24
Oct 13

Let’s Play a Game

Let’s play a game.  It’s called Real or Photoshopped.  I’m sticking with the science/biology/animal theme this week so I’ll show you photos of animals and you have to guess whether they are real or photoshopped.  Simple enough right?  Let’s start easy:

Photoshopped Animal 15 - Photoshopped Animals

Answer:

Yeah that one’s photoshopped.  It seems to be a penguin and a killer whale put together.  The next few should be more difficult so be prepared.

Answer:

This is not photoshopped.  These things are known as Saiga antelope.  They are critically endangered due to habitat destruction and poaching and are only found in certain areas of Russia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.  Saiga antelope are surprisingly small, averaging only 2 feet and 2.5 inches at the shoulder.  They eat mainly grasses and shrubs.

Michie's tufted deer Male

Answer:

Did you choose photoshopped? If so, then you’re wrong.  Although they look like a cross between a deer and a vampire, these things are 100% real.  Called the tufted deer for the tuft of hair on their head, these guys live in forested mountain habitats located in central China and northeastern Myanmar.  Despite the giant fangs they have, these deer are herbivores eating mainly leaves, fruits, and grasses.  Tufted deer are extremely territorial so the fangs are used to defend their territory and fight for mates.

Answer:

Did something smell fishy? (sorry for the terrible pun, but I had to do it) Well it shouldn’t have because the Blobfish is real.  The blob fish live deep underwater off the coasts of Tasmania and Australia.  The pressure in such deep waters causes the blobfish to have a different shape then when taken out of the water (like the picture above).  They actually look like this when under water.  Blobfish consist of mostly a gelatinous material.  They lack many muscles and usually just float near the sea floor.  They eat by swallowing whatever edible material floats in front of them.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Glaucus_atlant..jpg

Answer:

Probably the strangest looking animal out of the bunch, the Blue Sea Slug is indeed a real animal.  These animals can only grow up to 3 cm in length, but are much more dangerous than they seem.  They feed on the venomous Portuguese Man o’ War among other things.  The blue sea slug is immune to the Man o’ War’s stingers so they can feed without fear of being poisoned.  Furthermore, blue sea slugs are known to take the Man o’ War’s nematocysts (stingers) and store them for its own use!  So be careful when picking these up, the venom is stored in their finger-like appendages.

Answer:

Known as the Howler Lion, these rare beasts are found in the Sahara Desert.  It survives by swallowing sand and digesting whatever nutrients it can from…just kidding, this one is photoshopped.  Well, that concludes the game!  Hopefully you learned a thing or two about the many unique animals here on earth!

Sources:

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Elaphodus_cephalophus/

http://www.arkive.org/saiga-antelope/saiga-tatarica/

http://eol.org/pages/451180/details

http://www.citelighter.com/animals/animals/knowledgecards/blobfish-psychrolutes-marcidus


18
Oct 13

Mantis Shrimp

Published: 10-18-13

Since two of the other blogs in this group already deal with music related topics, I decided to switch my music post to a science/biology post about interesting animals.  This week’s animal is the Mantis Shrimp.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/OdontodactylusScyllarus2.jpg

What’s so interesting about the mantis shrimp, you ask?  Well first of all, they have the most complex eyes in the animal kingdom.  Human eyes are receptive to three colors: red, blue, and green.  All colors we see are some combination of those three colors.  Mantis shrimps, on the other hand, have not three, not five, not nine, but twelve different color receptors.  In addition to color sensitivity, the mantis shrimp has unsurpassed depth perception.  Why does the mantis shrimp need such complex eyes?  To catch its prey, of course!  This is where the mantis shrimp gets even more interesting.

See those two pinkish club-like things?  That’s what the mantis shrimp uses to kill its prey.  Those clubs shoot out at 80 kilometers per hour and are hard enough to smash through almost anything.  A strike from a mantis shrimp can generate up to 1,500 newtons of force.  To put that into perspective, that’s about the same amount of force a falling 340 pound object would create.  Since they strike so fast, their appendages cause such a large change in pressure that the water around boils in a process known as supercavitation.  A shockwave forms and the water can reach temperatures up to several thousand kelvin in addition to supercavitation.  The mantis shrimp uses this power to smash through the shells of crabs, clams, and other molluscs as well as some unlucky fish.

The mantis shrimp can grow up to a foot in length and live mainly in shallow tropical marine habitats.  If you’re wondering why you haven’t seen these in any aquariums is because of the club-like-things we discussed before.  Mantis shrimp may end up killing most of the other animals living in its tank.  They are also known to be able to break through the aquarium glass with their clubs.  I’ve attached a video and an infographic by The Oatmeal in my sources if you want to learn more about the mantis shrimp.  For my next animal blog post I’ll try to find a furry-er animal since everyone likes those.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantis_shrimp

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/mantis_shrimp

http://news.sciencemag.org/earth/2012/06/mantis-shrimp-smash


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