Unusual Creatures

This month will be very brief examples of weird-looking creatures. I'm going to try and shorten them up considerably. The picture displays the organisms that I have chosen. :)

The Mexican Axolotl, is a critically endangered species of salamander that is found in a southeastern wetlands of Mexico. Fewer than 100 individuals exist in the wild, yet they come in all sorts of varieties.

The white one on the left is an albino (common), and the red structures are external gills used for respiration (a close-up of the gills can be seen in the top-right photo). Usually salamanders, and other amphibians, lose their gills when they grow into an adult, but the most interesting thing about this axolotl is the reason its gills have been retained.

The mexican axolotl is a neotonic salamander - this means that it never completes metamorphosis. As a result it keeps the tail fin and external gills from its juvenile stage. In other words, the metamorphosis is blocked (by a thyroid hormone), but at the same time the organism can still mature into an adult! (If it was unable to mature, then the organism would be unable to reproduce, and would go extinct).

The star nosed mole (bottom photo) looks similar to any ordinary mole (top photo). The big difference is its strange nose, which consists of 22 ultra sensitive, fleshy tentacles. These tentacles aren't just for show, though.

Moles are blind, so they need powerful sensory systems in order to travel and hunt successfully. The nose of the star nosed mole is one of the best; containing up to 160 000touch sensors per square inch! The tremendous sensitivity of the star nosed mole allows it to hunt successfully both underground, and underwater! For underwater hunting, there is an incredible mechanism that is used to locate prey. This mechanism can be seen in the following video:

If you want more description on how this fascinating nose operates, the following link has a video that goes into more detail:

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/fooled-by-nature-star-nosed-mole.html

There are two species of Proboscis monkey, and both are critically endangered. Proboscis monkeys are endemic to an island called Borneo; this means that they are not found anywhere else on Earth.

Proboscis monkeys are sexually dimorphic; meaning that males and females are significantly different in appearance (think of how male peacocks have colourful feathers, whereas females don't). A male proboscis monkey (seen on the right), has an enlarged nose, and an odd row of fur around its neck that sort of looks like a lion's mane. Like male peacocks, the physical attributes of male proboscis monkeys are used to attract females (seen on the left). So, believe it or not, but female proboscis monkeys actually find the grotesque nose of the male to be attractive!

Another interesting feature of proboscis monkeys is the fact that they often have webbed toes (likely because regularly swim). Here is a video that provides some insight into the life of a proboscis monkey:

Puss moth caterpillars - as well as the adult moths - come in a variety of shapes and colours. Not only are they one of the more bizarre looking caterpillars, they are also one of the more dangerous, too!

Although this chubby, green caterpillar appears to be friendly ("smiling" in the photo on the left), it's one caterpillar you might not want to mess with. The top right photo shows the defensive posture it enters when disturbed: They rear up, and extend red flagella from their twin 'tails'. But it doesn't end here...

If their defensive posture is ignored, the caterpillars will squirt formic acid from their flagella! If you happen to come any caterpillar with twin 'tails' (clearly seen in the large photo on the left), don't touch it. If you are stung by one of these critters, it will leave a mark and you'll be in pain for several days.

The adult of this green, puss moth caterpillar can be seen on the bottom right. It poses no threat, I just added it because it's wings have a neat pattern.