Praying Mantis - Insect

What a creature this peculiar insect is... I mean, the females often eat the males after mating, so what more do you need to know? Ha! Yeah, it is quite the vicious eater, let me tell ya. Like a torture device from ancient times, it will seize its prey between two rows of steel-like points and pull 'em to its jaws and begin to devour the victim in a relentless fashion. They sort of look like a cross between a grasshopper and a stick insect, but they are easy to distinguish, nonetheless. Of course, not all praying mantis insects look like the one depicted here, albeit that is the only type I ever see. Certain mantises of Africa and South-east Asia, for example, are striped with vivid color and somewhat take on the color of their local flowers and leaves. The green type blends in very well with green grass and foliage. They get their name because of the way they wait for their prey, almost as if they are praying during the process.

The mating habits of this insect are quite bizarre, to say the least. It is a tragic situation that often involves the female eating the male while copulating. Sometimes, when the two are locked together, the female praying mantis rips the male's head off before they actually finish! Dang, talk about poor patience! LOL!

Side Note:  For the gardeners out there, if you ever see one of these insects in your growing patch, let it be! These things are great for the ecosystem of your garden, especially if you're growing organic and don't plan to rely on insecticides and pesticides. This wicked green mantis helps keep your garden pest and insect free naturally. I've read before that people can buy praying mantis eggs just for this purpose. I'm not sure how efficient they are at removing unwanted visitors to your garden, but I will take all the help I can get.

Image Credit: freewallpaperspot.com/22-praying-mantis-wallpaper.html [Link is no longer valid]

---End of Post "Praying Mantis - Insect"

Semi-related Post:  Lava Lizards - Fighting

Red Salamander - Lungless Tritons

The red salamander, also called the red triton, is one of many species that make up the Plethodontidae family. These particular members are lungless tritons, as they have no lungs and they breathe through their skin! Yeah, that sounds sort of weird, eh? A certain number of the plethodontids live permanently in the water, but most live on land. The red salamander can be found in humid areas among the moss, dead leaves of the undergrowth, etc. They usually emerge at night and generally avoid the light of day, which makes them a little harder to spot. I rarely see these things, but I did happen to walk up on one in the garage the other night. It is a colorful little devil; looked just like the one in the image above. Oh, these things are poisonous (most salamanders are), as well, so try to avoid eating (yuck!) or playing with them very much.  If you touch their toxic secretions while handling them, then go to your eyes, nose, mouth, well, you get the drift... I think that may be why whenever I see an outdoor domesticated cat eat any type of salamander-like creature, they always end up throwing it up later.

Side Note: These critters evidently have a lot of names and even though salamander is broad term for all of the species, I have read about several different types of names (one is included in this title).  For example, some of the many names include: olm, newt, axolotl, spring lizard, siren, mud puppy, water dog, hellbender, Congo eel, and triton.

Anyway, back to the red version of this lungless amphibian... They are sensitive to dehydration and will die if they stay out in the sun very long. Upon reaching adulthood, they loose their gills without them being replaced with lungs. The particular texture of their skin and the interior of the buccal cavity (vestibule of the mouth) allows this odd creature to breathe without lungs or gills. Anyway, I just thought I'd share these tidbits today. Mother Nature has so many interesting creatures out there with various types of unique traits. I like to read about them on occasions...

Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Salamander

---End of Post "Red Salamander - Lungless Tritons"

Flying Squirrel - Gliding Rodent

I've never seen one personally, but this gliding little rodent known as the flying squirrel is surely a cool spectacle to witness, if you ever get the chance. Flying squirrels don't have wings like a bird, but they have mastered the art of gliding. They are capable of steering, swerving and changing course during their flight, as well. Their hind limbs and forelimbs are joined by a fur-covered membrane which acts as a parachute, in a way. Okay, we'll call 'em wings if it makes more sense to ya. Ha! Anyway, they are rather small creatures, for a squirrel. Going by what I have read in the past, their big eyes inspired Walt Disney to create one of his enchanting screen characters.

Though there are several species of this flying rodent, most have habits similar to those of the North American types.  As for North America, there are two types: The Southern and the Northern version, with the Northern being larger. You can find other species in different countries, as well.  We have African versions, ones from the Rain Forest, Siberian flyers, and so on.  Out of all the ones I've read about, the pygmy scaly-tailed flying squirrel has to be about the smallest. It weighs only half an ounce! That's a tiny, pesky little rodent!

Anyway, these peculiar squirrels are nocturnal, and rarely leave their home during the day, which is probably why many of us haven't seen them before. Young flying squirrels learn to glide at one month old (on average), but they don't master the art of being a flying rodent until they are about 5 months old or thereabouts. Just like regular squirrels, they never truly hibernate. One additional tidbit that won't interest many people, is the hilarious debates that have spawned from the flying squirrel. People often argue how they amazingly evolved and all that jazz, which is another reason why I'm not a big proponent of the speciation concepts (macro-evolution) from the theory of evolution, as there is way too much storytelling going on for my liking. At any rate, regardless of how it got here, this gliding rodent is one nifty critter nonetheless.

Hunting: Some states have protections for this particular species and some don't.  As always, if unsure, check with your state wildlife agency to determine the legal status of your desired game in your area.  Personally, I don't know why anybody would want to shoot them because there isn't enough meat on their bones, going by the images I've seen. I've shot and ate squirrels before (the normal-sized ones like the grey, red, and fox varieties), but never have I seen or even wanted to shoot one of these gliding rats. Anyway, I just thought I'd mention this in case people are already reaching for their shotgun; ha!

---End of Post "Flying Squirrel - Gliding Rodent"

Philippine Tarsier

This freaky looking, crazed little critter is one of the smallest primates known to man. They usually average about 3 to 6 inches in height and would easily fit in the palm of your hand. Actually, by what I've read in the past, they are typically considered the 2nd smallest primate in the world. However, it must be a very close second place because the primate that gets credit for being the smallest in the world is not that much different in size, which is the Pygmy Marmoset.

Regardless of how bizarre they look, its size makes it somewhat hard to spot. The Philippine Tarsier's eyes are fixed in its skull, which means that their eyes can't turn in their sockets. However, its head can rotate 180 degrees to make up for their fixed eyes. For a mammal, their eyes are extremely large when compared to the rest of their body. Yes, they are nocturnal. I mean, really, can you blame them? I would wait for it to get dark, too, if I looked like that... LOL! Speaking of that, they have exceptional night vision.

The freaky features don't stop here, either, as their ears are also weird and they seem to be moving all the time, for some reason or another. Some of their major enemies are humans, owls, and feral cats. On the other hand, they mainly just eat insects like cockroaches and crickets, along with tiny lizards and helpless spiders, for example. Well, I just thought I'd share these little interesting tidbits with the blogging community here... Uh, yeah, this is your nature & wildlife lesson for today... Ha!

Update: In recent years, the Philippine Tarsier was named a specially protected faunal species by the government and designated as "near threatened" by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The main reason for this is: hunting, habitat loss, and unfortunate capture for the pet trade.  Yep, it sounds like humans are their worst enemy after all. Who in the hell would hunt these? Anyway, they typically do not survive captivity, going by what I've read, and their populations are slowly decreasing.  As for population, the last number I heard was 2,500 of them left and they have an average lifespan of 12 to 20 years. Hopefully the population number I came across is really higher than that, as that would definitely represent a threatened species and whatnot. ---End of Update

Image Credit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Tarsier

---End of Post "Philippine Tarsier"

Moustached Monkey

The moustached (mustached) monkey is a member of one of the many tribes of Cercopithecidae, which contains some of the most colorful monkeys in the world. This interesting creature prefers to dwell among the foliage within the lively forests of tropical Africa. The moustached monkey is mostly vegetarian and feeds on buds and shoots, tender leaves, fruits and various seeds, but also tree lizards, bird eggs, etc., on occasions. This colorful character generally lives in groups of 10 or thereabouts. This primate also has well developed social skills, as it is not uncommon to see them give various types of signals, gestures, and attitudes along with whatever it takes to make itself understood by other animals and whatnot.

Since there are several different types of monkeys under this particular family, I'll provide images for just two of them (above), to give you an idea of what they can look like. Certain types of these monkeys look like they have a moustache/mustache printed on their cheeks, which is where they get their name from, of course.  On second thought, I'll drop down another image below to provide a side-view of one of these critters:

Image Attribution: By Rufus46 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56574128

Update: It's been several years since I originally posted this but, going by traffic stats for this blog, it has been one of the least visited pages on here. Maybe I should have typed a lot more about this hairy bastard, but I think most people searching for this would rather just look at the images anyway.  I did add another pic for this post today, but with so many now requiring attribution and all the checking to find one that isn't under copyright, etc., I figured I'd just stop there.  Perhaps I should have just changed the title of this blog post to "monkey with a mustache" and included about 10 close-up images of this little freak. At any rate, I'm done with this simian-infected post... Ha! ---End of Update  

---End of Post "Moustached Monkey"

The Ugly Blobfish

Yikes! This gives the phrase "getting hit with the ugly stick" a whole new meaning! I was visiting some website that usually has a lot of freaky news posted, and I somehow ran into this hideous creature during the process. I looked online for additional info about the Blobfish, but there was limited data. I mainly just found out that it is rarely seen by us, it dwells really deep in the ocean off the coasts of mainland Australia and Tasmania, and that it is facing extinction due to excessive deep-sea fishing. No, we don't eat these things, but they may get caught in the nets or maybe we are fishing out their food supply or something, not sure. Either way, whether they end up going extinct or not, is this not one of the most ugliest fishes you have seen?

You should try doing some 'image searches' of this fish on the web, if you find this thing amusing. The Blobfish still doesn't look as freakish as the Anglerfish, in my opinion, but it still isn't going to win any "cutest fish of the year" awards, either!  Ha-ha!

Update: I did find a website that had a good amount of information about this aquatic critter.  I will provide a quick excerpt from there, followed by a link to their site: "Because they are basically gelatin with little-to-no bone or muscle, when you remove them from the pressure of the deep-sea, they lose all body shape. The famously floppy creatures you see in photos are subject to the sad reality of surface gravity, making them look much more ridiculous."  Read more, here: Description, Habitat, Image, Diet, and Interesting Facts (animals.net)

---End of Post "The Ugly Blobfish"

A Baboon's Life of Pleasure

Imagine that you are watching a band of baboons, as entertaining as that may be for a typical person out in the wild kickin' it in a loincloth or whatever. Anyway, just looking at them, you may think they are disorganized. At first, there seems to be no definite hierarchy among them. But don't let these babbling baboons fool you; they do have leaders. The dominant males exercise their authority over others and have special privileges, sort of like the female humans of today; ha! Just kidding... When a dominant, self-centered male baboon sits down, his subjects generally hurry to delouse (remove lice from) him.
If food is thrown to the band of blundering baboons, the pompous, proud males have first choice, of course, because they are just good like that. The others don't even bother to look at the food while the hungry male demonstrates his domineering ways while embarking upon their beloved raw food diet.
Because the surrounding subjects wholeheartedly accept their inferior position, there are almost no quarrels among a band of baboons - outside of the occasional bickering. 

As we continue with the baboon's life of pleasure, let's move on to sex. There are never any fights over the possession of females, as when they are in heat, they mate freely with all males. Dang, I guess that's where the phrase "putting it out there on the front street," originated from? Ha!

These monkeys, which are found throughout most of Africa, usually live in open country. Baboons are omnivorous, but their diet varies according to the season, the territory, and the age and sex of the individual. The female, with their newborn offspring, feed on grasses; the more developed young eat bark (yummy!), insects, lizards, etc. Births take place throughout the year. The infant, at first, clings to the mother's breast, but soon is able to ride on her back. The young can take care of themselves soon after weaning.

Image Credit: This work has been released into the public domain by its author, as stated here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BaboonTroop.jpg

---End of Post "A Baboon's Life of Pleasure"

Woodcock - Bird

It flies with its chicks between its feet...

Woodcock are solitary birds that are usually intimately connected with water and live as close as possible to it.  What a name, by the way. Typing it over and over makes me want to start writing tongue twisters that you say really fast, like... How much wood could a woodcock chop if a woodcock's cock had wood? What the??? WTF? Anyway, back to the blog post...

These birds, however, have adapted to living in forested or wooded areas, coniferous or deciduous, and in thickets and heathland. They seem to prefer damp places and are occasionally found near stagnant pools and forest-bound lakes. They have a very special diet; in fact, they feed almost exclusively on earthworms, with the percentage being as high as 85%. The Woodcock bird becomes active at night, or rather at dusk, when they go in search of food among the litter of dead leaves, prodding the loose earth with their long beaks. The tip of their beak is equipped with a number of nerve endings which make it highly sensitive as a probing instrument. You know, that reminds me, concerning birds with long beaks, when I was writing about the interestingly strange Kiwi Bird, here: exotic-life-creatures.blogspot.com/2013/07/kiwi-bird.html

Anyway, during the day these birds rest on the ground among dead leaves, perfectly camouflaged thanks to their plumage (feathers). Provided they keep still, they are almost undetectable. If disturbed, they flutter quickly into the air and zigzag away amongst the trees and come to land some distance away. During the mating season the males make repeated flights to patrol and define their territory. At dawn and dusk they fly in a circle uttering very distinctive, low-pitched croaks. Woodcocks are some of the few birds which carry their young. They pick them up between their feet and fly off with them to some safe place; several journeys may be necessary for the removal of all the nestlings, since only one can be carried at a time. At any rate, that's a quick bio for the Woodcock; ha!

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

---End of Post "Woodcock - Bird"

Frogs: Mantella of Madagascar

The most beautiful of all frogs...

Insects and birds do not have the monopoly over vivid and beautiful colors in the animal world; there are multitudes of fish which rival them in splendor, but not many people know that the dim, dark world of frogs and toads can also produce a few highly colored members which deserve to join the 'beautiful species' club.

The Mantella of Madagascar is one of these brilliantly colored creatures. These are small frogs typically reaching 0.79–1.2 inches, with iridescent colors with combinations of black, blue, orange, yellow, and green - which reflect the toxic nature of their skins. Several species in the genus are threatened because of habitat loss and over-collection for the international pet trade.  Anyway, this small frog, which is only naturally found in Madagascar, is one of the most attractive species of frogs in the world. 

There used to be a lot of gaps in our knowledge concerning the Mantella's habits and way of life, especially when reproduction is concerned.  Many years ago, I read how some zoologist brought back a Mantella in a box with a wet sponge inside to keep the air damp enough for the small animal.  Upon opening the box, he found to his surprise that there were eggs stuck to the sponge.  He kept the eggs carefully; they hatched and duly turned into tiny tadpoles which eventually changed into adult Mantella frogs.  Since there was no male in the box at the time the eggs were laid, he concluded that this particular species copulated, and that fertilization was internal, in contrast to that of other frogs.

Image Credit: http://inky.50megs.com/gallery.html

---End of Post "Frogs: Mantella of Madagascar"

Additional Link: Are all amphibians poisonous to some degree?

Capybara - Giant Rodent

The giant of the rodents...

The capybara looks more like a wild pig than a rodent, but it is in fact the largest representative of this important order, to which almost half the mammals belong.  The capybara is not a threatened species, though it is hunted for its meat and hide and also for a grease from its thick fatty skin which is used in the pharmaceutical trade.  They are very abundant in South America.

Capybaras, which are more like monster guinea pigs in appearance, depend on water since they are amphibious, aquatic-like animals and live on steep banks of major watercourses in tropical latitudes.  Like other rodents they are vegetarians, and feed on water plants and woody plants - gnawing their trunks in the same way as a beaver.  They are perfectly adapted to their aquatic life, as they swim and dive freely and can stay submerged quite a long time.  If disturbed, they invariably seek refuge by diving into the water, where they hide with their body completely submerged.

They are not nocturnal animals in the true sense, but because they are hunted fairly often, they have learned to be wary of humans (I can understand that) and only come out at dawn and dusk to browse.  By day they keep to their hideouts, which may be as elaborate as a deep burrow in a steep riverbank or as rudimentary as a hollow in an impenetrable thicket.  There is keen demand for this giant rodent's meat, which is tender and tasty - going by what I have read; I've never tried it nor wanted to eat it.  Outside of man, the jaguars and crocodiles are their primary enemies via nature.

Image Credit:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capybara

---End of Post "Capybara - Giant Rodent"

Related Link: http://exotic-life-creatures.blogspot.com/2013/06/aardvark-earth-pig.html