Compete for ugly immortality

Name this animal! This is a photo of Phallusia mammillata, the largest sea squirt of Britain. Did you know Britain had sea squirts? Were you even sure that a sea squirt is an animal and not, I don't know, some kind of fungus?

Well, they do and it is. And along with nine other types of endangered British flora and fauna, it's part of a contest at the Guardian to give common English names to neglected species that currently are known only by their Latin nomenclature.

For more inspiration, here's another angle:

Maybe that's its mouth... That photo comes from a website that has some nice cross-sectional drawings, and even though it is written in French it's quite clear that the critter has some organs that are only found in animals. In fact, the youngsters are tiny larvae that resemble tadpoles, and only later do they settle down into the immobile form you see here.

The winners of last year's naming contest included the Queen's executioner beetle and sea piglet shrimp. Can you do as well for this lovely blob of sealife? Wouldn't it be cool for the name you came up with to go down in history? Give it a try!

-Wombat (No Relation)

Ugly souvenir

I went to the beach this past weekend, and I brought you back something - it's a horsehoe crab.

Sadly, I found that I had just missed the annual horseshoe crab festival held in Milton, Delaware. (It's actually the Horsehoe Crab and Shorebird Festival, but we don't care about those pretty shorebirds on this blog.)

If you wonder why horseshoe crabs deserve a festival, I suggest you check out horseshoecrab.org. It's the website of a group that's devoted to their conservation, and it turns out, they're pretty amazing creatures. Did you know they have ten eyes? And they've been around since before the dinosaurs? And their blood is used to test medical products for bacterial contamination? No, you didn't. Go check it out.

-Wombat (No Relation)

Your Tuesday Ugdorable

I visited some old zoo friends this past weekend and met a new species they've acquired: this is a black and rufous elephant shrew. I'd worked a bit with the short-eared elephant shrew, but as you can see, it is not nearly as elephantine:


I'd rather work with either than a real elephant though. Those guys can kill you. With these the worst risk is probably that'd you laugh yourself silly.

-Wombat (No Relation)


Photos from Wikimedia Commons.

More Food Chain Disrespect

You may recall a bit earlier I introduced you to the Giant Centipede, which doesn't follow normal food-chain conventions, given that a large portion of its diet are bats that it catches in flight. Today, I'll be giving you some new nightmares, with another bug that eats above it's station - the Giant Water Bug.

Now, Water Bugs like this are known to take small vertebrates (frogs and fish) for dinner, but the Giant Water Bug, Kirkaldyia deyrolli, from Japan sets its sights a bit higher.

Yes, it's eating a turtle. According to the researcher who photographed it, this particular specimen was about 6 cm long, less than half their maximum size of 15 cm. After catching it, as the bugs only catch live (or at least moving) prey, the Water Bug "insert[ed] its syringe-like rostrum into the prey's neck in order to feed." Again, not the proper order for the food chain. Similar species live across North and South America, as well as East Asia. They're nocturnal, can fly, and have a venomous bite. They have been know to bite humans, causing pain for several hours. Anyway, here's another one, this time eating a snake.

Thanks to the BBC for information and pictures.

Tkrausse

Happy World Turtle Day!

Monday May 23rd is World Turtle Day, first declared in 2000 by American Tortoise Rescue. And for the occasion we've got someone who is obviously VERY happy with his ugly turtle.

Pictured is Japanese biologist Munetaka Nakagawa and the enormous soft-shelled turtle that he recently found in a river in Kyoto. It's thought to be over 50 years old and probably the largest of its species in Japan, at 38.5 centimeters long and a weight of 7.3 kg.

Not only is that guy smiling, apparently Japanese culture in general puts a more positive spin on this ugly animal than you might expect:

Soft-shelled turtles are traditionally associated with nourishment and strength. For that reason, Nakagawa suggested, "It may have appeared to send us a message, 'Cheer up, Japan!'"

And I'm sure it will cheer everyone up to see this excellent close-up profile shot of an Asian softshell (courtesy of Wikipedia):


Slow and steadily,
- Wombat (No Relation)

Aggression, Hostility, Antagonism

We've seen some psycho demon chihuahuas recently; let's see what kind of deviltry can come from cats.

Unknown source

This cat is rage personified:



And this cat is just pure evil. (Note: embedding is disabled on this video, but I highly recommend watching it on youtube.)

Evil Chihuahuas

Why these hideous dogs are so popular is beyond me.

Photo by David Shankbone

I mean, who wants to look at a face like that every day? ... Evidently these owners do:





Count me out.

Lake Titicaca Giant

I'm horrified that I haven't heard of this frog before. But that's why we have readers like Jelo, who alert us to beasts like the Lake Titicaca Frog . These monsters, which reach a length of 50cm, have adapted to the high altitude and cold waters  of the lake by developing unseemly folds of skin. When splayed out (a position they enjoy) they are the size of a salad plate, and those folds of skin help keep them oxygenated. Usually, when I'm splayed out like that, I'm in need of air too.

When Jaques Cousteau led an expedition to the lake, he found "thousands of millions" of these frogs cruising it's depths. He reported some weighing as much as two pounds and stretching out to nearly twenty inches. But local fishermen say the days of those behemoths are gone. They're smaller now, and harder to find.CITES has listed them as 'vulnerable.' And why? One of the main reasons is that geniuses in Lima, Peru, have decided that if you make a drink with some of this frog's juice it will act as an aphrodisiac.

Now, it's true that Telmatobius culeus means "aquatic scrotum" (not a recommended band name, at least in Latin) But take one look at the frog and you'll see why it received that charming moniker. Believe me, though I don't know from personal experience, drinking aquatic scrotum juice will do nothing for your own nether regions.

Photos via Ever So Strange