WORLD OF ANIMALS

Unusual Reef Fishes...

2011-01-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

Unusual Reef Fishes...

For millions of years, the seas have been a virtual laboratory for the process of evolution. The results of nature's experiments can be found throughout the world's seas. Perhaps nowhere else on Earth has so many strange and unusual adaptations taken place. The coral reef is a showcase for these bizarre creatures. Fishes here have developed many different shapes and abilities. There are fishes here that do not even look like fish. There are the eels, long skinny fish that look more like snakes.

There are pufferfish that actually expand like balloons to avoid being eaten by predators. There are the seahorses, which are one of the most unusual fish designs on the reef. And believe it or not, it is actually the male seahorse that gives birth to the young. There are even seahorses that look like seaweed. Camouflage has evolved into an art form here on the coral reef. There are fishes that look like rocks and fishes that look like plants.

Even experienced divers can be fooled by some of these ingenious disguises. The art of poison has also reached new heights on the reef. Many undersea residents have developed strong poisons as a means of protection. Some species carry enough venom in their bodies to kill several men.

Below is a listing of some of these strange and unusual residents of the coral reef.

Long-spined Porcupinefish
(Diodon holacanthus)The members of the porcupinefish family have evolved an interesting means of defense. When threatened by a predator, they fill their bodies with water until they swell like a balloon. This makes them too large for the predator to swallow. Porcupinefishes also have the added protection of a spiny covering on their body.

Sharpnosed Puffer
(Canthigaster solandri)Pufferfishes comprise another group of inflatable fishes. The sharpnosed puffer is one of the most beautiful of the puffer species. It is shown here in its natural state. Besides the beautiful colors and spots on this species, there is a large black spot near the animal's back fin. This resembles an eye and helps draw the attention of predators toward the fish's tail and away from its head.

Stonefish
(Synanecja horrida)The Stonefish is without a doubt one of the ugliest fish in the sea. This fish gets its name from its stone-like appearance. This excellent disguise allows it to blend in with the background as it waits for its prey, small fish, to wander close enough to gobble. In addition to its gruesome looks, the stonefish has sharp, venomous spines that contain enough poison to kill a man.

Oscellated Frogfish
(Antennarius ocellatus)Frogfishes get their name from their grotesque, almost frog-like appearance. Their strange looks help to camouflage them as they wait to catch their prey. Frogfishes have a specially modified dorsal spine with a fleshy growth at the end. They lie motionless and use this spine like a fishing rod. When a curious fish gets too close, it is swallowed up instantly by large, powerful jaws.

Mushroom Scorpionfish
(Scorpaena intermiss)Scorpionfishes are characterized by their bizarre appearance and the numerous spines that cover their bodies. Similar to the lionfish, these spines contain venom strong enough to cause a very painful wound and even more serious injury to those who may have allergic reactions. The strange appearance of the scropionfish helps conceal them as they wait to ambush their prey.

Learn more about Jaguar...

2010-12-30T11:03:00.000-08:00

JAGUAR, A WILD CAT...

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Mexicoacross much of Central America and south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. Apart from a known and possibly breeding population inArizona (southeast of Tucson), the cat has largely been extirpated from the United States since the early 1900s.

This spotted cat most closely resembles the leopard physically, although it is usually larger and of sturdier build and its behavioral and habitatcharacteristics are closer to those of the tiger. While dense rainforest is its preferred habitat, the jaguar will range across a variety of forested and open terrain. It is strongly associated with the presence of water and is notable, along with the tiger, as a feline that enjoys swimming. The jaguar is a largely solitary, stalk-and-ambush predator, and is opportunistic in prey selection. It is also an apex and keystone predator, playing an important role in stabilizing ecosystems and regulating the populations of prey species. The jaguar has an exceptionally powerful bite, even relative to the other big cats.^[3] This allows it to pierce the shells of armoured reptiles^[4] and to employ an unusual killing method: it bites directly through the skull of prey between the ears to deliver a fatal bite to the brain.^[5]

The jaguar is a near threatened species and its numbers are declining. Threats include habitat loss and fragmentation. While international trade in jaguars or their parts is prohibited, the cat is still regularly killed by humans, particularly in conflicts with ranchers and farmers in South America. Although reduced, its range remains large; given its historical distribution, the jaguar has featured prominently in the mythology of numerous indigenous American cultures, including that of the Maya and Aztec.

Physical characteristics

The jaguar is a compact and well-muscled animal. There are significant variations in size and weight: weights are normally in the range of 56–96 kilograms (124–211 lb). Larger males have been recorded at 160 kilograms (350 lb)^[26] (roughly matching a tigress or lioness), and smaller ones have extremely low weights of 36 kilograms (80 lb). Females are typically 10–20% smaller than males. The length of the cat varies from 1.62–1.83 metres (5.3–6 ft), and its tail may add a further 75 centimeters (30 in). It stands about 67–76 centimeters (27–30 in) tall at the shoulders.^[27]

Further variations in size have been observed across regions and habitats, with size tending to increase from the north to south. A study of the jaguar in the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserveon the Mexican Pacific coast, showed ranges of just 30–50 kilograms (66–110 lb), about the size of the cougar.^[28] By contrast, a study of the Jaguar in the Brazilian Pantanal region found average weights of 100 kilograms (220 lb) and weights of 136 kilograms (300 lb) or more are not uncommon in old males.^[29] Forest jaguars are frequently darker and considerably smaller than those found in open areas (the Pantanal is an open wetland basin), possibly due to the smaller numbers of large herbivorous prey in forest areas.^[30]

A short and stocky limb structure makes the jaguar adept at climbing, crawling and swimming.^[27]The head is robust and the jaw extremely powerful. The jaguar has the strongest bite of all felids, capable of biting down with 2,000 pounds-force (8,900 N). This is twice the strength of a lion and the second strongest of all mammals after the spotted hyena; this strength is an adaptation that allows the jaguar to pierce turtle shells.^[4] A comparative study of bite force adjusted for body size ranked it as the top felid, alongside the clouded leopard and ahead of the lion and tiger.^[31] It has been reported that "an individual jaguar can drag a 360 kg (800 lb) bull 8 m (25 ft) in its jaws and pulverize the heaviest bones".^[32] The jaguar hunts wild animals weighing up to 300 kilograms (660 lb) in dense jungle, and its short and sturdy physique is thus an adaptation to its prey and environment.

A melanistic jaguar. Melanism is the result of a dominant allele but remains relatively rare in jaguars.

The base coat of the jaguar is generally a tawny yellow, but can range to reddish-brown and black. The cat is covered in rosettes for camouflage in its jungle habitat. The spots vary over individual coats and between individual Jaguars: rosettes may include one or several dots, and the shape of the dots varies. The spots on the head and neck are generally solid, as are those on the tail, where they may merge to form a band. The underbelly, throat and outer surface of the legs and lower flanks are white.^[27]

A condition known as melanism occurs in the species. The melanistic form is less common than the spotted form (it occurs at about six percent of the population)^[33] of jaguars and is the result of a dominant allele.^[34] Jaguars with melanism appear entirely black, although their spots are still visible on close examination. Melanistic Jaguars are informally known as black panthers, but do not form a separate species. Rare albino individuals, sometimes called white panthers, also occur among jaguars, as with the other big cats.^[30]

While the jaguar closely resembles the leopard, it is sturdier and heavier, and the two animals can be distinguished by their rosettes: the rosettes on a jaguar's coat are larger, fewer in number, usually darker, and have thicker lines and small spots in the middle that the leopard lacks. Jaguars also have rounder heads and shorter, stockier limbs compared to leopards.^[35]

UNUSUAL ANIMALS....

2010-12-29T10:04:00.000-08:00

UNUSUAL ANIMALS...

The concept of unusual animals has been known to man for quite sometime now. The term unusual animals consists of animals with strange shapes and characteristics which also include a few hybrid animals.
Animals have been in this world for more than a million years now. You must be knowing most of them but you you still haven't seen them all. Mentioned below are some unusual animals names and where are they found. Have a look at some endangered animals.

Capybara (South America): This comes first in my unusual animals list. If you see it for the first time, you are bound to be mistake it for a guinea pig. But the capybara is not a guinea pig, it has sleepy eyes and is called the world's largest rodent. It has webbed feet which makes a capybara an excellent swimmer. The capybara spends much of its time near small water bodies or with other capybaras.

Echindna (Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania): It has a very distinctive spine, the echindna is one of the two monotremes (egg laying mammals) living on the face of the earth. Echindna lives alone most of the time, burrowing in the ground. Its main food is insects which it catches easily with the help of its long sticky tongue. A normal echindna grows up to 18 inches long.

Bongo (Africa): The bongo resembles an antelope. Found only in Africa, the bongo is known for its gracefully shaped spiral horns and an amazing striped head. Considered timid and mostly nocturnal, the bongo is one of Africa's most mysterious animals and is the largest of all the antelopes in the world.

Jerboa (Africa and Asia): Jerboa has long and sturdy back legs which help it to jump large distances. Often known as the "jumping wonder", it can leap more than ten feet in a single jump. It uses its long tail to help maintain balance and it never drinks water. The jerboa relies on the moisture content from bugs and plants to quench its thirst.

Okapi (Africa): An okapi is a catch between a giraffe and a zebra. Okapi is related to giraffe though its height is only five feet. It's a mammal and has a beautiful red-brown body and some dazzling white and black stripes on its bottom and legs.

Unusual Animals Facts

As you know the earth is surrounded by mysterious creatures. We all can't go and observe all of their mysterious characteristics in person, but you can read some unusual animal facts mentioned below and have a faint idea.

If you held a leopard in captivity, it will live for 12 years, while in the wild it can live up to 10 years due to its excessive hunting.
An average beaver can cut down more than 200 trees in its lifetime.
A rhinoceros, if held in captivity may live up to 45 years, while in wild it may live up to 35 years as it is hunted for its horns and skin.
The lifespan of an average hedgehog is 10 years.
The approximate weight of an African bison is 900 pounds.
The humpback whale has the longest flippers of all mammals.
Average size of a new born kangaroo is that of a coffee bean. Have a look at marsupial animals.
A porcupine has more than 30,000 quills on its body.
One out of every five thousand north Atlantic lobsters is born with a bright blue color.
Tigers have stripped skin, unlike most animals who have stripped fur.
There are around 2,200 species of frogs, they are found on every continent except Antarctica.
Electric eels cannot derive oxygen from water, they have to come to the surface every five minutes to get oxygen. They can swim forwards and backward which most fish can't.
Blue whales weigh 50 pounds when they're born, at adulthood they weigh as much as 150 tons.
The turbot fish lays around 14 million eggs during its lifetime.
The largest great white shark caught in New Brunswick, in 1930 measured 37 feet and weighed 24,000 pounds.
The Humming bird, grebe, loon swift and kingfisher are all bird species that cannot walk.
The only cat in the world that cannot retract its claws is the cheetah.
The blue whale is the loudest animal on the earth. The call sound of the blue whale reaches up to 188 decibels. This amazing call can be heard for hundred of miles underwater. The howler monkey is the second loudest animal on earth.
Snakes are immune to their own poison.
Dolphins sleep just below the surface of the water at night, they frequently rise to the surface for air.
At the end of the Beatles song "A Day in the Life", an ultrasonic whistle which only dogs could hear was recorded by sir Paul McCartney for his Shetland sheepdog. Check out some exotic animals and pets.

Read more on amazing facts about animals.

So these were some of the unusual animals and some of their characteristic facts. Most of the animals I have mentioned above are on the verge of extinction. We must take care and preserve these animals as they play an important role in maintaining the ecological balance of the earth.

GIANT JAPANESE HORNET

2010-12-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

Name: GIANT JAPANESE HORNET

Giant Japanese Hornet—Japanese honeybee workers

forming a defensive ball around a giant Japanese

hornet. (Mike Shanahan)

Scientific name: Vespa mandarinia japonica

Scientific classification:

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Order: Hymenoptera

Family: Vespidae

What does it look like? The giant Japanese hornet is a large insect. The adult can be more than

4 cm long with a wingspan of greater than 6 cm. It has a large yellow head with large eyes, a

dark brown thorax, and an abdomen banded in brown and yellow. Three small simple eyes

on the top of the head can be easily seen between the large compound eyes.

Where does it live? This subspecies of the Asian hornet is found on the Japanese islands. They

prefer forested areas where they make their nests in tree holes.

Marauding, Hive-Raiding Hornets

Japanese beekeepers, in an attempt to increase productivity, try to keep European honeybees

in Japan as they produce more honey than the indigenous Japanese honeybees. However, the

giant Japanese hornet often thwarts this enterprise. This hornet is a formidable brute of an

insect, which is in fact one of the largest living wasps. When a hornet locates a hive of European

honeybees, it leaves a pheromone marker all around the nest, and before long, its nest mates pick

up the scent and converge on the beehive. The hornets fl y into the beehive and begin a systematic

massacre. The European honeybee is no match for the hornet as it is one-fifth the size. A single

hornet can kill 40 European honeybees in one minute, and a group of 30 hornets can kill a

whole hive, something on the order of 30,000 bees, in a little over three hours. The defenseless

residents of the hive aren’t just killed but are horribly dismembered. After one of these attacks,

the hive is littered with disembodied heads and limbs as the hornets carry the thoraxes of the

bees back to their own nest to feed their ravenous larvae. Before they leave, the hornets also

gorge themselves on the bees’ store of honey.

This amazing natural phenomenon begs the question, well what about the native Japanese

honeybees? Do they get attacked? The answer is no, and the reason is particularly neat. The

hornet will approach the hive of the Japanese honeybee and attempt to leave a pheromone marker.

The Japanese honeybees sense this and emerge from their hive in an angry cloud. The worker bees

form a tight ball, which may contain 500 individuals, around the marauding hornet. This defensive

ball, with the hornet at its center, gets hot, aided by not only the bees vibrating their wing

muscles but also by a chemical they produce. Th e hornet, unlike the bees, cannot tolerate the high

temperature, and before long, it dies and the location of the Japanese honeybees’ nest dies with it.

• Aside from its large size and fearsome appearance, the giant Japanese hornet also has

very potent venom, which is injected through a 6.25 mm stinger. The venom attacks

the nervous system and the tissues of its victim, resulting in localized tissue damage

where the flesh is actually broken down. A sting from this insect requires hospital

treatment, and on average, 40 people are killed every year after being stung by giant

hornets, due to anaphylactic shock. Typically, the hornets are not aggressive animals,

but when threatened, they will attack. An attack initially involves one individual, but

the release of alarm pheromones will quickly attract its sisters. Not only is the venom

dangerous, but the sting is also very painful. A Japanese entomologist said of the

sting: “It was like a hot nail through my leg.”

• Hornet workers continually forage to feed their siblings developing in the nest. They

will take a range of insects, including crop pests, and for this reason, they are considered

beneficial. The insects they catch are dismembered, and typically, the most

nutritious parts, such as the flight muscles, are taken back to the nest where they

are chewed into a paste before being given to a larva. The larva returns the favor by

producing a fluid that the worker eagerly drinks.

• The fluid produced by hornet larvae has aroused interest recently as it is the only

sustenance the adult worker imbibes during its life. This substance somehow makes

prodigious feats of stamina possible, as worker hornets fl y for at least 100 km a day

at speeds of up to 40 km/h. The substance produced by the hornet larvae, known as

vespa amino acid mixture (VAAM), somehow enables intense muscular activity over

extended periods, perhaps by allowing the increased metabolism of fats. A company

has started producing VAAM commercially, and it has apparently improved the performance

of many athletes.

• Not only is VAAM popular amongst the Japanese athletic community, but the fully

grown larvae of the hornet are considered something of a delicacy and are eaten in

mountain villages, either deep-fried or as hornet sashimi.

• The defensive-ball strategy of the Japanese honeybee works because the temperature

inside the ball rises to 47°C, and the lethal temperature for the giant hornet is

44°C–46°C, whereas the lethal temperature for the bee is 48°C–50°C.

Who is APHIDS???

2010-12-26T11:37:00.000-08:00

Scientific name: Aphids
Scientific classifi cation:
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Homoptera
Family: Aphididae

What do they look like? Aphids are small insects, varying in size from 1 to 10 mm. They have
soft bodies with long, spindly legs. There is normally a pair of thin turrets projecting from
the animal’s back end, which secrete a waxy substance. In each species there are winged and
non winged forms. The mouth parts are formed into a long, thin structure called the rostrum,
which is held under the body when the animal is not feeding. The eyes are small and relatively
simple compared to other insects.
Where do they live? Aphids are found worldwide, but they are more common in temperate
regions. They are found on a quarter of all plant species.
Aphids, Aphids Everywhere
Aphids are not held in high regard. The damage they do to plants has made them enemies of
gardeners and farmers the world over. From a purely zoological point of view, however, they are
a fascinating and very successful group of animals. One of the most remarkable things about
aphids is their reproductive ability. In a short amount of time, a plant free from aphids can be
swarming with them. For much of the year, many species of aphids reproduce without mating.
This cycle begins with a female that hatches from an egg laid in a suitably secluded spot, such as
the deep fissures in tree bark, during the previous year. This founding female had a mother and
a father, but due to the odd make up of the aphid’s chromosomes, a mating between a male
and female can only ever produce daughters. These daughters survive the winter, and within
them, they carry the seed of the new population. The founding female is already carrying a
daughter, and within this embryo, another embryo develops—three generations in the body of
one small animal, all thanks to the phenomenon of parthenogenesis, which enables animals to
reproduce without sex. These daughters are born as miniature replicas of their mother, and they,
too, give birth to further replicas, until there are huge numbers of aphids—all originating from
the original female that survived the winter as an egg. The reproductive capacity of aphids is
astounding. The oretically, if all of the off spring from a single cabbage aphid managed to survive,
there would be 1.5 billion, billion, billion aphids by the end of the season.

EXTRAORDINARY ANIMALS: Antarctic Krill...

2010-12-24T07:03:00.000-08:00

Scientific name: Euphausia superba
Scientific classification:
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Malacostrata
Order: Euphausiacea
Family: Euphausiidae

What does it look like? Th e Antarctic krill can be about 6 cm long when fully grown, and it
is more or less transparent, with a pair of big black eyes. The antennae are long and sprout
from the very front of the head. The thorax bears several pairs of specialized limbs that
form a basket like structure. Th e abdomen has several pairs of swimming limbs and ends
in a paddle called the telson.
Where does it live? This crustacean is found in the southern waters surrounding the continent
of Antarctica. Their preferred habitat varies depending on how old they are. As
youngsters, they dwell at great depths, but young adults and adults spend their time in
surface waters.
Swarming Crustaceans
There can be few animals whose importance in the planet’s ecosystems is as great as the Antarctic
krill. Singly, they are not that impressive. They look like a myriad of other shrimp like animals, but
what they lack in appearance they more than make up for in sheer abundance. The life of an Antarctic
krill starts as a fertilized egg, about the size of a period, sinking into the abyss. As the egg
descends, its cells divide and differentiate to form the young larva. At a depth of between 2,000
and 3,000 m, the baby krill hatches and begins to ascend, developing and growing as it makes
slow but steady progress through the icy waters, sustained by the remaining yolk from its egg.
There are around 86 species of what can be described as krill. Regardless of the
species, they are all considered keystone species in marine ecosystems. They occur in
such huge numbers that many animals depend solely on them for food. The huge
cetaceans, like the blue whale, are a good example. Their diet consists of krill and
whatever else happens to be swimming among the swarm.
• The total mass of Antarctic krill in the ocean during the peak of the season is estimated
to be on the order of 125–725 million tonnes, making this species probably
the most successful animal on the planet, in terms of biomass at any rate.
• For reasons that are not fully understood, krill numbers go through cyclical peaks
and troughs that are thought to be linked to the abundance of pack ice surrounding
Antarctica. In years where there is lots of pack ice, it provides numerous little nooks,
crannies, and caverns in which the young krill can shelter from their many predators.
They appear to suffer when there is little pack ice. In these lean years, they are replaced
as the dominant plankton animal by jelly-bodied creatures called salps.
• In some areas of the Southern Ocean there are unusual places rich in nutrients,
but where the diatoms and other photosynthesizing, single-celled organisms are surprisingly rare. As there is no food for them, the krill are absent from these areas.
It turns out that these odd tracts of ocean lack iron. Injecting iron gives the plantlike
organisms what they need, and before long they bloom, attracting the attention of the
gigantic swarms of krill. It has been suggested that ships could circle the Southern
Ocean and inject iron into the water. Th is would stimulate the diatom populations
and, in turn, the krill, providing a way of engineering the environment to increase the
amount of carbon dioxide that is locked away in the deep ocean.
• Around 100,000 tonnes of this Antarctic krill species, Euphausia superba, is taken
every year for animal and human consumption. In Japan, processed krill is known as
okiami.
• The Antarctic krill, like all its relatives, sheds its skin very regularly. It is peculiar not
only for the speed with which it can do this but also for its ability to grow smaller
at each successive molt if food is scarce. The Antarctic krill can quite literally jump
out of its old skin, leaving the skin floating in the water, where it may act as decoy to
confuse predators.

EXTRAORDINARY ANIMALS: Pseudomyrmex ferruginea

2010-12-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

Scientific name: Pseudomyrmex ferruginea
Scientific classification:
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae

What does it look like? Th is ant is a slim-bodied species, with the workers measuring around

3 mm in length. They are orangey brown and have very large eyes.

Where does it live? This is an arboreal ant, and it is to be found on or around a certain species

of acacia tree that is found throughout Central America. Th e ants nest inside the large thorns

of these acacias.

A Relationship among the Thorns:

Acacia trees with their succulent little leaves are relished by a large number of herbivorous

animals from tiny insects to huge mammals. To protect their foliage from these hungry

mouths, they have evolved a number of ways to keep the leaf eaters at bay. Many acacias have

vicious-looking spines, while others have leaves packed with repellent and noxious chemicals.

Some acacias, however, have gone even further and actually depend on other animals for protection.

One such acacia, the bull’s horn acacia, has its own species of dedicated ant bodyguard.

The relationship begins when a young queen ant, newly mated, lands on the acacia looking for

a place to start a nest.

The thorns on this acacia are great little ant havens as they are bulbous

at their base and hollow. The queen, convinced by the odor of the tree that she is in the right

place, starts to nibble a hole in the tip of one of the thorns, eventually breaking through to the

cavity within. In the safety of her new nest she lays 15–20 eggs, and soon enough, these give

rise to the first generation of workers. Th e embryonic colony grows, and as it does, it expands

into more of the bulbous thorns. When the colony has exceeded around 400 individuals, the

repayment to the acacia for lodgings can begin, and the ants assume their plant-guarding role.

The ants become aggressive and do not take kindly to any creature they find trying to surreptitiously

munch the acacia’s leaves, regardless of whether it is a cricket or a goat. It doesn’t

take much to set them off.

Even the whiff of an unfamiliar odor sees the ants swarming from their thorns and toward a potential threat. Herbivorous insects are killed or chased away, and browsing mammals are stung in an around their mouth, which quickly persuades them to look elsewhere for less well-defended fodder. Apart from these active defending duties, the ants also have gardening to tend to—they leave the tree and scout around its base looking for any seedlings that would eventually compete with their acacia for light, nutrients, and water. If they do find any, they destroy them, and the ants even go so far as to prune the leaves of nearby trees so

that their host is not shaded out.

This is not the only example of a symbiotic relationship between a tree and an ant species. There are at least 100 species of ants that live in a close partnership with a plant. In return for the services provided by the ants, the plants furnish them with accommodation. The diversity of the relationships encompasses all the conceivable parts of a plant. Some plants have modified swellings on their branches and twigs,

while others have cavities within their stems and trunks or modified roots that house their insect guests.

• Some of these nests can be very small, only a few centimeters across, while others can

be large and elaborate.

• In South America, there is a tree, Duroia hirsute, which is sometimes found to dominate small areas of the rain forest, forming areas that the local people call “devil’s gardens.” Within special cavities on the tree’s trunk there are special cavities in which the ant, Myrmelachista schumanni, makes its nest. Any saplings sprouting near the host tree are attacked by the ants and stung with formic acid, which kills them, thus removing competition for their host’s resources.

• In some of these relationships, the cost of the ant’s protection can be quite expensive. Cordia trees in the Amazonian rain forest have a kind of partnership with Allomerus ants, which make their nests in modified leaves. To increase the amount of living space available to them, the ants will destroy the tree’s flower buds. The flowers die and leaves develop instead, providing the ants with more dwellings. Another type of Allomerus ant lives with the Hirtella tree in the same forests, but in this relationship, the tree has turned the tables on the greedy ants. When the tree is ready to produce flowers, the ant abodes on certain branches begin to wither and shrink, forcing the occupants to flee and leaving the tree’s flowers to develop free from attack by the ants.

• In the mangrove forests of Southeast Asia and New Guinea there lives an odd plant called Myrmecodia. The is green, spiky, small football-sized plant clings to the branch or trunk of a mangrove tree. Scuttling over its surface are numerous ants, and the odd plant is their home. Open it and an elaborate system of tunnels and chambers will be revealed. Some of these chambers are the nest’s rubbish tips, and the waste there in is used by the plant as a fertilizer, allowing it to fl ourish even though its roots will never come into contact with the soil.

• As you can see, ants have struck up some amazingly complex relationships with plants. On the whole, the two very diff erent organisms help each other, but occasionally, there are freeloaders. These stories exemplify the degree to which insects and flowering plants have become inextricably linked over millions of years. Ever since the flowering plants first appeared on earth many millions of years ago, the insects have gravitated toward them and evolved with them, resulting in the complex relationships we see today.

National Animals from Around the World...

2010-12-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

Six countries around the world have the eagle as their national animal: Albania, Germany, and Nigeria each share the regular, run-of-the-mill eagle, while Mexico, Poland, and the United States associate themselves with the Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, and Bald Eagle (pictured), respectively.

Five countries each honor the lion as a political symbol: Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Singapore, and Sri Lanka, while three countries chose the tiger: Bangladesh (Royal Bangal), India (Bengal), and South Korea (Amur). Finland and Russia are bears. Oh my!

Aside from the aforementioned eagles, many nations elect birds to represent their political drive:

* Estonia: Barn Swallow
* France: Gallic Rooster
* Guyana: Canje Pheasant
* Iceland: Falcon
* Japan: Japanese Pheasant
* Venezuela: Turpial
* New Zealand: Kiwi (pictured)
* Chile: Condor
* Columbia: Condor
* Malta: Blue Rock Thrush
* Pakistan: Markhor
* Peru: Vicuña
Surprisingly, Spain's national animal is the bull. You'd think they would have picked an animal that isn't routinely killed for fun. It would be like the United States holding a week-long festival where revelers are encouraged to jump into a giant cage filled with rabid bald eagles. Spectators would then be urged to goad the eagles until they either lose interest and fly off, die, or forcibly insert their beaks into the eyes of their torturers. What fun!

The Chinese had a hard time deciding on which animal to choose to represent their country, so they went with three: the Chinese Dragon, the Crane, and the Giant Panda. It's tough to call a the Chinese Dragon an animal, however, because it's mythical. The Giant Panda is very real, and very endangered, with an estimated 2,000 left in the entire world. They're also what's known as a living fossil, which is "an informal term for any living species (or clade) of organism which seems to be the same as a species otherwise only known from fossils and has no close living relatives," according to Wikipedia.

And let's not forget these other countries and their national animals, many of which I had never heard of until now:

* Belarus -- Wisent (bison)
* Bhutan -- Takin (goat-antelope thing)
* Botswana -- Zebra
* Cambodia -- Kouprey (ox)
* Finland -- Brown Bear
* Vietnam -- Water Buffalo
* Nepal -- Cow
* South Africa -- Springbok (gazelle)
* Ireland -- Stag (deer)
* Canada -- Beaver
* Honduras -- White-tailed Deer
* Italy -- Italian Wolf
* Moldova -- Auroch (bovidae)
* Namibia -- Oryx (antelope)
* omania -- Lynx (cat, pictured)
* Philippines -- Carabao (water buffalo)
* Saint Kitts and Nevis -- Vervet Monkey
* Thailand -- Thai elephant
* Turkey -- Grey Wolf

2010-12-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

Dancing Bird Shakes Its Groove Thing
The male bird of paradise Lawes' parotia creates his own disco atmosphere on the forest floor, displaying dramatic flashes of color using mirror ball-like structures that are described in a new Proceedings of the Royal Society B study.

The bird actually trumps dance club and fashion technology, since no known material -- engineered or biological -- has ever duplicated the brilliant hues and eye-catching color changes produced by this flashy avian dancer.

"We do not know of any man-made material that achieves the same effect," co-author Daniel Osorio told Discovery News.

Planet Earth: See video of the dancing bird here.

Osorio and his colleagues came to that conclusion after examining the breastplate plumage of the bird using powerful microscopes and a device called the "scatterometer," which allowed the researchers to detect the complex optical properties of the feathers and how they reflect light in all directions at once.

"The parotia feather is unique in that each of the tiny barbules that are linked to make the feather blade is shaped so that it has two outer surfaces whose structure means that it reflects blue light in two different directions, while the interior of the feather contains a third mirror, made of multiple layers of keratin and melanin, which reflects yellow light between the two blue beams," Osorio said.

Male Lawes' parotia work the effect as he bobs, bows and dances performed for females during courtship display at chosen locations in the forests of southeast and eastern Papua New Guinea.

"Somewhat metallic colors can appear to almost gleam as they catch the light," Osorio said. "As the bird moves, they will switch between blue, yellow and black as the bird makes an elaborate sequence of dance steps on the forest floor or during displays on low branches."

On occasion, the male dancer will even erect his feathers so they face the sun, likely hoping to dazzle the female viewer with an extra burst of color.

The color is structural, Osorio explained, meaning that it doesn't result due to pigments, as is the case with human skin and paint products. It's more like the shimmering colors seen on soap bubbles and oil slicks. Peacocks, kingfishers and hummingbirds display iridescent feathers that are somewhat similar to those of the male parotia.

Surprisingly, perhaps the closest known match is found on the common feral pigeon. The pigeon's neck feathers shift from green to magenta, but often look drab gray to human eyes.

"In fact, this gray may be a remarkable and very unusual color to birds that can probably see more colors than us," Osorio said. "However, to our knowledge, the parotia has a unique, and probably the most effective, mechanism for making color switches."

He doubts that the eyes and color vision of the parotia are much different than those of other birds. The bird's forest home, however, might have led to the evolution of the avian flash dance.

"Forest-floor habitats provide very directional lighting that seems to favor mirror and jewel-like effects, not only on bird plumage, but also on butterflies and even fruit," he said.

John Endler, a professor of sensory and ecology evolution at Deakin University, told Discovery News that he "really enjoyed" reading the new paper, but he's "surprised (the structure of the male parotia feathers) has not been found earlier and in a variety of taxa."

"For example," he added, "it is well known that some hummingbird colors are only visible at the correct combination of viewer and sun angles, causing a flash of color during the display, and this is true of many structural colors."

In addition to hummingbirds, Endler suspects that certain butterflies, fish and other birds can achieve the multi-angled color mirror-ball effect of the male parotia. However, additional research is needed to confirm his suspicions that this has evolved in multiple species.