Most Amazing Animals

[NikolaiI]

Hairy Frogfish (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdraXh9Jhwc), could use some camera time :)

Mantis Shrimp (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5FEj9U-CJM)

Then there is an octopus that mates once in her life, finds a home and lays over 100 thousand eggs, hanging down on strands. Then she stays watch over them, carressing the eggs to prevent algae and parasites from hurting them, and she also blows water over them to keep them oxygenated. During that time she doesn't eat anything, and then at last when they hatch, she blows water over them one last time, and expires at the moment the first ones swim away.

Lately I've been totally fascinated by these animals.. Nothing is more beautiful to me than this infinite diversity and intricacy of life. I think the more you learn about it, the more you understand it, the more you feel the power and beauty of it.

And flying fish.. they made me want to weep for the beauty of it.. it turns out they can fly 50 meters, and get up to 6 meters above the water..

What are some of your favorite? I mean truly, since of course as we say, beauty is subjective, and all living beings have evolved to meet their environment, one could say they're all equally beautiful.

Still, here's a thread dedicated to the most interesting/beautiful/amazing animals. Please, think of them and help save the ecosystem as much as we can.

[Pompey Bum]

Nothing is more beautiful to me than this infinite diversity and intricacy of life.

Well, let's not be hasty.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eHi9FvUPSdQ

[NikolaiI]

That's so funny you should say that.. This morning, when I was posting this, I turned on the TV to nature channel, and truth - it was about mole rats.. I don't remember all the details, but they live in big communities... there's a queen I think, and only she mates.. Their teeth are on the outside of their mouth so they can tunnel without swallowing dirt. And, they have some rats who are soldiers, some who feed the young..

I havent watched the youtube video, I am not doing much of that these days, to conserve bandwidth. But I was going to post a thing about mole rats.. and I'm going to study up on them a bit more too.

I did a quick search, trying to find the name of this mouse that outruns lizards by running along these little road-ways it creates, all the turns well-memorized.. and because it can make turns quicker than the larger animal (a feat that seems to be in play among birds fleeing from birds as well), and I came up with this-

A newly discovered (http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/06/27/us-usa-mammal-africa-idUKKBN0F203M20140627) mammal this year.

I will post the name of that other mouse when I find it. Or if someone else beats me to it.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

Interesting topic NikolaiI and fascinating finds with the Frogfish and shrimp, "biting off more than you can chew".
Here's a couple of less complex, vernacular examples from the insect world, but still fascinating IMO:

Walking Stick, (the beer bottle is for scale):
(click on thumbnail)

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Elements%20of%20Nature/th_IMGP2828.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/user/tabuka1/media/Elements%20of%20Nature/IMGP2828.jpg.html)

Large Click Beetle:

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Elements%20of%20Nature/th_ClickBeetleonbook.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/user/tabuka1/media/Elements%20of%20Nature/ClickBeetleonbook.jpg.html)

http://i963.photobucket.com/albums/ae114/tabuka1/Elements%20of%20Nature/th_BWcroppedhead.jpg (http://s963.photobucket.com/user/tabuka1/media/Elements%20of%20Nature/BWcroppedhead.jpg.html)

If disturbed or placed on their back, the beetle will snap it's head causing it to flip upward a few centimeters until it lands up right.

[NikolaiI]

The male Darwin beetle will climb very tall trees in search of its mate. Along the way it will encounter competitors, each time the two will engage in a battle for the priviledge of contuing. The male beetle with the larger jaws usually wins, they grasp the branch deftly and try to hook one on the underside or abdomen and toss him off.. Of course, the beetle isn't harmed by the fall. The successful winner of the battle will have to toss off several before he reaches the top, his goal - and meet his mate... Mating occurs but even though the courting beetle passed so many trials, there is still a bit of a dance before mating. Then, after they are done, true to his nature the male directly tosses his mate off the tree as well. I didn't see what he does after that.

[Dreamwoven]

We saw a TV programme recently which showed how baboons captured and trained feral dogs to guard them (in Arabia, and South Africa), and to guard their young while they went foraging for food. In return the baboons groomed the dogs for fleas, and shared stolen food with them. If you do an internet search you can see some u-tube shots on this.

[NikolaiI]

That is awesome.

I know there is a type of shrimp that maintains its living not by hunting or scavenging but by advertising. They stay in one place and get the attention of fish passing by, who stop to let them on, and they eat off the parasites while the fish swims around, then later the fish drops them back off near where they picked them up.

[Helga]

Maybe I'm the only one who is amazed by this animal, but the Platypus is my favourite animal. It's a mammal, furry, lays eggs, sweats its milk, is poisonous, has a ducks bill and feet, just a wonderful creature in every way.

There is a novel I want to read (if I ever have the time to read it) called 'Pride and Platypus: mr. Darcy's secret'. I wonder if Darcy turns into a platypus at a full moon or something.

[NikolaiI]

I don't think you're the only one, Helga. :) I never knew they sweat their milk, that's pretty incredible. I wonder if they're the only animal that does..

I just learned an interesting fact about cuttlefish that makes me think they belong on the thread... (about Sepia cuttlefish)


Like all cuttlefish they contain cuttlebones, which are not bones but lightweight structures that help regulate buoyancy. This internal shell is filled with tiny compartments into which the cuttlefish can pump air or fluid to make itself lighter or heavier.

from http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Sepia_(genus)

[Dreamwoven]

And what about bats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat): mammals that can fly (not just glide) and that have radar.

[NikolaiI]

Tubers. That's what naked mole rats eat. Tubers. :)

I just learned some very interesting things about chimps, baboons and humans. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, page 399.

[*Classic*Charm*]

Crows! Anyone familiar with learning theory should appreciate these beauties.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Z6Mvjd9w0

[*Classic*Charm*]

The most spectacular animal of all, Alex the African Grey Parrot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldYkFdu5FJk

[Dreamwoven]

Tubers. That's what naked mole rats eat. Tubers. :)

I just learned some very interesting things about chimps, baboons and humans. Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, page 399.

I don't suppose you have links to these?

[Dreamwoven]

Classic Charm: These two u-tubes are very interesting. Crows are indeed intelligent, as are magpies for problem-solving, I've noticed this just by watching how they operate, especially in co-operation with each other. Just loved the one on African Grey Parrot, especially when it expresses boredom with the exercises. Great stuff.

[*Classic*Charm*]

Classic Charm: These two u-tubes are very interesting. Crows are indeed intelligent, as are magpies for problem-solving, I've noticed this just by watching how they operate, especially in co-operation with each other. Just loved the one on African Grey Parrot, especially when it expresses boredom with the exercises. Great stuff.

As far as I know, crows are the first species witnessed using tools since Dr. Jane Goodall discovered chimps using tools and debunked the theory that tool use was a distinguishing feature of humans. I've seen another video where the crows are given materials and they have to make their own tools. You can see them make a tool and use trial and error to test and improve on it until they get the reward. Incredible stuff.

As for Alex, I have wondered whether or not his asking to stop the exercises was boredom or stress. Throughout his life he was often in poor physical condition- lots of feathers that he had torn out of himself, which I would interpret as an indicator of stress. I haven't watched enough of his handler's discussions to see if that was ever discussed. They say Alex has the capacity for reason equivalent to a 5 year old child, which is just amazing. He would ask questions unrelated to his present situation which shows a totally different relationship between an animal and its experience of time and the world than we considered before.

[Snowqueen]

Nobody mentioned The Birds-of-Paradise! I think these are pretty amazing creatures too.

http://www.wimp.com/birdsproject/

[NikolaiI]

The most spectacular animal of all, Alex the African Grey Parrot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldYkFdu5FJk

Classic! Great see you. I've been wondering whether any old-timers would come back to the forum.

I can't watch the videos right now but I will a little later... Crows are definitely on my list of animals I want to someday own and have trained. (It's a fairly long list :p but they're pretty high up on it, because of their intelligence.)


Nobody mentioned The Birds-of-Paradise! I think these are pretty amazing creatures too.

http://www.wimp.com/birdsproject/

Love them. I like their name, too.. "the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes."

I've only seen a bit of footage from the Planet Earth series, it was that black one, hopping around on a branch. I know that sounds bad but I don't remember the name of it...

here's another page about them
http://www.factzoo.com/birds/birds-of-paradise-colorful-prancer-dancers.html

[NikolaiI]

As far as I know, crows are the first species witnessed using tools since Dr. Jane Goodall discovered chimps using tools and debunked the theory that tool use was a distinguishing feature of humans. I've seen another video where the crows are given materials and they have to make their own tools. You can see them make a tool and use trial and error to test and improve on it until they get the reward. Incredible stuff.

As for Alex, I have wondered whether or not his asking to stop the exercises was boredom or stress. Throughout his life he was often in poor physical condition- lots of feathers that he had torn out of himself, which I would interpret as an indicator of stress. I haven't watched enough of his handler's discussions to see if that was ever discussed. They say Alex has the capacity for reason equivalent to a 5 year old child, which is just amazing. He would ask questions unrelated to his present situation which shows a totally different relationship between an animal and its experience of time and the world than we considered before.

Agreed. :)

I love the way the crow seems so deft and self-assured.

About Alex, words just don't seem to do it- that is really beautiful!

The crow one reminds me of a silly idea I have of how you could get a mouse or something to pilot a space ship of some kind... The crow seems much better, but I thought of little buttons a mouse could press to move it and turn it and all... In an age when the smartest robots are not quite to a cockroach's level of intellignce, it seems there could be a lot of uses if one could get a higher level animal, but still very small, to be the brains or pilot. . . of course, if I were doing this, the animal would have to be well cared for and happy :)

[NikolaiI]

I don't suppose you have links to these?

Shadows is a beautiful and brilliant work about evolution and our place in the larger framework of nature. I really can't say enough good things about it. Written by Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan. Similar in some regards to an earlier work by Sagan, The Dragons of Eden, published 15 years earlier. Both are incredibly good.

Naked mole rats (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_Mole_rats) are very fascinating creatures, I am coming to find out. As I'm reading up on them, they're more and more interesting.
All quotes are from the Wiki article.

They seem to have quite a few unique features. They are the one of only two mammals known to ba eusocial, meaning they have a strict social structure with a queen, workers, and soldiers. . Only the queen and one to three males reproduce. They are the only mammalian 'thermoconformer' (as opposed to thermoregulartors). They don't have sensitivity to pain in their skin. Their teeth are on the outside of their mouth, so they can tunnel through the ground without swallowing dirt.

"The naked mole-rat and the Damaraland mole-rat are the only known eusocial mammals." Meaning they have a queen. . . "The naked mole-rat is the first mammal discovered to exhibit eusociality. This eusocial structure is similar to that found in ants, termites, and some bees and wasps. Only one female (the queen) and one to three males reproduce, while the rest of the members of the colony function as workers."

"As in certain bee species, the workers are divided along a continuum of different worker-caste behaviors instead of discrete groups. Some function primarily as tunnellers, expanding the large network of tunnels within the burrow system, and some primarily as soldiers, protecting the group from outside predators."

"[They] feed primarily on very large tubers (weighing as much as a thousand times the body weight of a typical mole-rat) that they find deep underground through their mining operations, but also eat their own feces. A single tuber can provide a colony with a long-term source of food—lasting for months, or even years, as they eat the inside but leave the outside, allowing the tuber to regenerate. Symbiotic bacteria in their intestines ferment the fibres, allowing otherwise indigestible cellulose to be turned into volatile fatty acids."

There are several other unique characteristics as well, and not at all least, they seem to have a total resistance to cancer.

[NikolaiI]

I'm going to re-do the last post, because I think I made an extremely interesting creature a bit boring by my narration. Instead, I'll just make a short list of NMR's special traits..

Quotes from the above mentioned Wiki article, here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naked_mole-rat)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Naked_Mole_Rats-cropped.jpg

1.They, along with Damara mole-rats, are the only known eusocial mammals. This means they have a very strict social hierarchy, headed by a queen. Only the queen and a few males are reproducing at any one time. The other social group is workers, some of which are frequent and some infrequent.. There are builders, and some who tend to the young, and very importantly there are soldiers.

2.They live in colonies of up to 300, but averaging around 75.

3.Their territories can be up to a kilometer in diameter.

4.They have no sensitivity to pain in their skin.

5.They are resistant to tumors: Cancer has never been observed in them.

6.Metabolism and oxygen: "The [NMR] is well adapted for the limited availability of oxygen within the tunnels that are its habitat: its lungs are very small and its blood has a very strong affinity for oxygen, increasing the efficiency of oxygen uptake. It has a very low respiration and metabolic rate for an animal of its size, about 2/3 that of a similarly sized mouse, thus using oxygen minimally. In long periods of hunger, such as a drought, its metabolic rate can be reduced by up to 25 percent."

7.Longevity (somehow I missed this one until now!) "The naked mole-rat is also of interest because it is extraordinarily long-lived for a rodent of its size (up to 31 years[18]) and holds the record for the longest living rodent."

8.Their teeth are on the outside of their mouths, and 25% of their whole muscle mass is used to keep their jaws closed.

9.They live on tubers, which they tunnel long distances to find. When they get one, it can last them for months, or even years, as they eat out the inside of it, allowing it to regrow.

10.They can move backwards as well as forwards; in the tunnels the older rats are usually on top of the others. . . and though strict social structure is observed elsewhere, where eating is concerned, all are equal and allowed to get their fill.

11.
"Reproducing females become the dominant female, usually, by founding new colonies, fighting for the dominant position, or taking over once the reproducing female dies. These reproducing females tend to have longer bodies than that of their non-reproducing counter parts of the same skull width. Interestingly enough, the measurements of females before they became reproductive and after show significant increases in body size. It is believed that this trait does not occur due to pre-existing morphological differences but to the actual attainment of the dominant female position. As with the reproductive females, the reproductive males also appear to be bigger in size than their non-reproducing counterparts but not as much so as in the case of the females. These males also have visible outlines of the testes through the skin of their abdomens. Unlike the females, there are usually multiple reproducing males."

12.
Thermoconformers instead of thermoregulators.
The [NMR] does not regulate its body temperature in typical mammalian fashion, homeostasis. They are thermoconformers rather than thermoregulators in that, unlike other mammals, body temperature tracks ambient temperatures. The relationship between oxygen consumption and ambient temperature, however, switches from a typical poikilothermic pattern to a homeothermic mode when temperature is at 28 °C or higher. At lower temperatures, they use behavioral thermoregulation, as when cold, naked mole-rats huddle together or bask in the shallow, more sun-warmed parts of their burrow systems. Conversely, when they get too hot, they retreat to the deeper, cooler parts of their tunnel system.

[NikolaiI]

Solenodon, a mammal that's been around since the dinosaurs lived.
http://www.edgeofexistence.org/mammals/species_info.php?id=5
https://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2013/lawinger_hann/adaptation.htm,
from here (https://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2013/lawinger_hann/adaptation.htm)

And Olm, an amphibious creature that lives in limestone caves in Central and Southeastern Europe, in places like Croatia. It can live up to 100 years.. They are all white, have no sense of sight, but a great sense of smell, and also can sense changes in the electrical field around them.. They also have a very effective "starvation mode" and can survive for 10 years at a time without eating... quite the opposite of a shrew.
http://creepyanimals.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/olm-cave-salamander.jpg
http://unpaseoporlazoologia.blogspot.com/2012/03/el-curioso-parecido-entre-el-olm-y-el.html

http://www.pbase.com/image/95336704

Velvet-purple Coronet
Ecuador

[NikolaiI]

Of course we all love the Flying Squirrel (http://www.factzoo.com/mammals/flying-squirrel-sailing-fluffy-rodent.html) :-)

but what about the flying snake? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysopelea

although those two are actually just gliders. . .

Flying fish (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_fish) are built for it too. . . these were just ridiculously beautiful to me

http://www.funchap.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/flying-fish-wings.jpg

[Dreamwoven]

Flying Fish are indeed beautiful. I have never seen one before, not that close up in a still (photo).

[NikolaiI]

Archer fish are quite incredible. . they shoot water at insects above the surface. They can account for the refraction, and they also account for the parabolic nature of projectiles, and adult fish have a very high percentage of hitting their targets. . . they can shoot water up to 3 meters. Pretty awesome :-)

[Dreamwoven]

This is an odd fish! Using water to both swim and breathe in and also as a hunting weapon. Learned something new...

[NikolaiI]

The Namib desert is really interesting . . .totally fascinating to me. The land is very arid, it gets almost no rain and it's very hot in the day, and very cold at night like a normal desert; sometimes it doesn't rain for years. . and it's right next to a very, very cold ocean. . life is partly made possible by the strong winds blowing in off the ocean. . because of the unique environment, the animals are very specially adapted. The wind blows in little bits of tiny animals and plants, and some moisture.

The ants are unique. . they have a hard time navigating because the landscape all is homogeneous, so they navigate by the sun. . they build their homes in the grass. . the beetles keep cool by running, and the crickets (check this out (http://thesmallermajority.com/2012/07/18/))

http://www.antweb.org/antblog/Attack%20ant.jpg

http://johnclarkeonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Picture4.png

The golden mole lives underground, hunts at night and is completely blind, they're very good at hearing, and they can travel a few miles, even though they're very small, about the size of a thumb.

http://blog.yampu.com/assets_c/2012/12/namibia-gecko460_1707277c-thumb-400x250-439.jpg

The Namib sand gecko is also nocturnal and also buries under the ground during the day to keep cool.. they get their moisture mainly from dew drops on the vegetation in the morning, and they can also absorb water through their skin.

Then there are two species of sidewinders, those are always cool. Very similar to other sidewinders around the globe, they're small, hide almost completely under the sand a lot of the time, and when they move across it, only touch it with a very small part of their body.

One that I thought was very incredible is the African penguin,

http://www.kidzone.ws/images-changed/penguins/african.jpg

They hide in shelters made of bird dung, some of the time, to hide from the heat. . and when they get too hot, they leave their young temporarily to jump in the icy cold water and cool off for a while. They're extremely agile and good swimmers. . I find it very fascinating, how they can withstand very hot temperatures and very cold ones. . Socrates would have loved them. :-)

http://www.biodiversityexplorer.org/birds/spheniscidae/images/3841africanpenguin7_327w.jpg


Sadly, their numbers have been in great decline over the last few centuries, about 95%. It appears their current total population is around 52,000, from around 4 million a couple centuries ago.

[Dreamwoven]

The golden mole is interesting. I had no idea they exist. Looking them up in Wikipedia they seem to have other curious characteristics, too.

[NikolaiI]

Like "most species do not need to drink water at all."

Thank you for making me go back for a second look!! :-)

I'm rather speechless right now.

[Dreamwoven]

Yes, I thought those golden moles were quite amazing. Don't know where you find such animals.

[NikolaiI]

Well, no particular way Dream :)

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

So, I just found out about UNESCO World Heritage Sites. . . randomly searched through and saw Bwindi Impenetrable. . not planning to go there, but sweeet looking photo of the gorillas through the foliage :)

[Snowqueen]

Just saw some beautiful images, Nik. Thanks for sharing.

Here is a photo of Markhor an amazing animal of Himalayas.

http://www.zooborns.com/.a/6a010535647bf3970b0115709f6528970b-pi

[NikolaiI]

That's a remarkable and impressive creature, Snow. The way its antlers / horns(?) are curving like that is. . . unbelievably cool - not sure what other words could describe it!

[NikolaiI]

Gibbons, with their long arms they can make leaps of 10 meters from branch to branch; and they defend their territory with songs. . .

Wikipedia just updated me, I'll quote their article below.

Extended quote from about halfway through Chapter 17: Admonishing the Conqueror, from Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, p. 329

"Baboons as a whole represent only one small corner in the vast arena of primate behavior. We could just as easily have focused

"on any of a number of lemur species, species in which females rather routinely dominate males. We could have decided to make an example of the shy and nocturnal owl monkey. . . where males and females cooperate in child care with the male playing the major role in carrying and protecting the infant, or we could have focused on the gentle South American monkeys known as "muriqui". . . who specialize in avoiding aggressive interactions, or any of a host of other primate species in which we now know that females play an active role in social organization. (Hrdy)

"Consider the gibbon. Its preternaturally long arms permit it to make great balletic leaps through the canopy of the forest--sometimes ten meters or more from branch to branch--that put champion human gymnasts to shame. Gibbons are, apparently without exception, monogamous. They marry for life. They produce haunting songs heard a kilometer or more away. Adult males often sing solos in the darkness just before sunrise. Bachelors sing longer than old married males, and at a different time of day. Wives prefer duets with their husbands. Widows bear their grief in silence and sing no more.

"Gibbons are also territorial and their matins serve to keep intruders away. A nuclear family, typically parents and two children, tends to control a small turf. Defense of the home territory is accomplished not so much by throwing stones or raining blows as by singing anthems. Perhaps there are cadences, timbres, frequencies, and amplitudes that other gibbons, contemplating a little poaching, find especially impressive and daunting. . . Adult males and females behave pretty much alike, and have nearly equal social status. Primatologists describe the females as "codominant," and the partners in a marriage as "relaxed" and "tolerant."'


From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbon)

"Gibbons are masters of their primary mode of locomotion, brachiation, swinging from branch to branch for distances of up to 15 m (50 ft), at speeds as high as 55 km/h (34 mph). The gibbons' ball-and-socket joints allow them unmatched speed and accuracy when swinging through trees. Nonetheless, their mode of transportation can lead to hazards when a branch breaks or a hand slips, and researchers estimate that the majority of gibbons suffer bone fractures one or more times during their lifetimes. They are the fastest and most agile of all tree-dwelling, non-flying mammals."

[NikolaiI]

Hey, Jane Goodall's on TV right now, on OETA.

Nope, nevermind, not anymore. Still worth watching, though.

[NikolaiI]

So - vultures. .

http://natpedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Zopilote-Rey.jpg

These guys - they don't all look that pretty, although if you Google Image search "prettiest vultures," there are some good looking ones.

I just learned that India had very serious problem - 98% of their vulture population died off, the result of a medicine for cows. Vultures have a very good resistance to diseases, they can even encounter botulism, anthrax, cholera, and salmonella, and remain resilient, but this one specific drug - diclofenac - is deadly to them; even eating once from a dead animal that had been treated with it can kill them.

Though vultures are often sort of seen as unpleasant - because, well, they eat dead things - but they are actually one of the main eliminators of disease; an integral part of the system. Without the vultures, in India, to clean up the bodies of animals, several diseases have increased, including rabies and anthrax, as other animals, especially rats and wild dogs, take over their place. These other animals don't have the same capacity for eliminating the diseases with their metabolism when they encounter them, and they become carriers.

Needless to say, a lot of effort is being given to rehabilitate the populations of vultures in India, and diclofenac was taken off the market in 2006.

The most affected species was the Gyps bengalensis, or White-rumped vulture, which is now considered Critically Endangered; with only two populations - in Cambodia and Myanmar - which are thought to be viable; both with numbers in the low hundreds.

Wiki article on White-rumped vultures (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-rumped_vulture)

Birdlife article on White-rumped vultures (http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/speciesfactsheet.php?id=3374)

brief general info about vultures (http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/vultures-food-poisoning/)

[NikolaiI]

Hummingbirds have a ton of interesting characteristics. I won't go into all of them, a lot are pretty well known.

Most people know their wings beat over 50 times per second. . their heart beats are in the range of 20 times per second. . . They're the only birds that can stand perfectly motionless when they're flying; unlike other birds, their wings don't fold and expand when they flap, they stay expanded and go directly from front to back, instead of raising them and flapping down. . .

They generally have to eat around every 15 minutes, they can starve if they don't eat for 2-3 hours. They don't just drink nectar, but occasionally they need to eat insects for protein, at which they are very proficient.

When they sleep, they go into a hibernation-like torpor, when their body's high metabolism drops to 1/15th its normal level. It's somewhat dangerous as it leaves them vulnerable to predators at night. They still lose about 10% of their body weight overnight.

They're considered to have rather co-evolved with some flowers. . . One of the most impressive things to me is that they're able to remember which ones, out of hundreds of flowers, they've been to. Since they maintain such a delicate balance of energy, consuming so much; they have to have a good record for going back to them. . .

The smallest humming bird weighs the weight of a U.S. penny.

http://mrwallpaper.com/wallpapers/hummingbird-flower-1440x900.jpg

[Snowqueen]

These very fascinating little birds, Nik. We mostly have sunbirds here and I often found them fluttering around our house in summer. Here are a couple of photos I took last year. A male is usually purple black and female is olive brown above with yellowish underside.

Purple sunbird.

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv183/SheherBano5/Birds/littlefella.jpg (http://s682.photobucket.com/user/SheherBano5/media/Birds/littlefella.jpg.html)

A female on Kachnar tree.

http://i682.photobucket.com/albums/vv183/SheherBano5/Birds/kachnar.jpg (http://s682.photobucket.com/user/SheherBano5/media/Birds/kachnar.jpg.html)

[NikolaiI]

Those are stunningly beautiful, Snowqueen. Thanks so much for sharing them!

[Snowqueen]

Thank you, Nik. So glad you like them. :) Have you ever seen Hummingbird Hawk Moth? They look like Hummingbirds and feed on flowers. In fact many people confuse these moths with hummingbirds.

[Calidore]

It's not a species as such, but the albino peacock is a stunner:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Albino_peacock.jpg/800px-Albino_peacock.jpg

[NikolaiI]

That really is, Calidore. It's easy to overlook it but then I'm drawn back to the feathers, and it's really captivating. Thank you for sharing such beauty :)

Snowqueen, I have never heard of such a moth!! I went looking for pictures. . .

http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/110/1/3/hummingbird_hawkmoth_by_dwarf4r-d62cbhs.jpg

I was originally going to start with the second one, but it's quite a large photo. . .

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/IC_Macroglossum_stellatarum1_NR.jpg

When I looked at them earlier today, I thought they were quite cool, looking at them now, the Google image search.. there are so many that are breathtakingly beautiful.

[NikolaiI]

Gibbon teasing and playing with tiger cubs.. This is one of the most tremendously cool things I've ever seen in my life.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhtdg0Q9QCY

Touching on gibbons a little while back, I learned that they are very fascinating animals. . . They protect their territory with singing and visual displays, for example.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Witwanggibbon_M.jpg

Isn't that a beautiful creature?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/Hylobates_lar_sitting_on_a_stump_over_water.jpg/800px-Hylobates_lar_sitting_on_a_stump_over_water.jpg

Besides singing for defense of territory, which the males and females join in together, they have songs for courtship, and advertising territory and so forth; and,

"The song can be used to identify not only which species of gibbon is singing, but also the area from which it comes."

And their physical dexterity is unsurpassed, as "they are the fastest and most agile of all tree-dwelling, non-flying mammals."

Wiki article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbon)

Oh, and the two pictured above are a Northern white-cheeked gibbon, Nomascus leucogenys, and a lar gibbon.

[NikolaiI]

So I saw this nature video about Hawaii and this fish... Goby fish, there are a lot of species of them.

On the islands there are some of these freshwater fish - one of very few or the only freshwater fish native to Hawaii - and they do this totally amazing thing. . .

Though they are fresh-water as adults, when they are fry (baby fish) they are too fragile for the fresh-water currents, so they lay their eggs, which are immediately swept downstream, and they spend the first part of their life in the ocean.

Then they literally climb up the waterfall. . . sometimes hundreds of feet - with the water pouring down on them. This was so incredible to watch. .

It was one of those, where when I saw it, I just had this sweeping feeling of joy wash over me, I suppose because of all the good memories I have associated with the whole process.


Here they are -

http://www.islandbreath.org/2013Year/01/130105oopu.jpg

One other thing I learned about them is that they are herbivores - they live on algae, at least when they are adults.

And apparently - nice! - their colours change with the mood of the fish.

Conservation is tricky, the wikipedia article says, because of their unique life, they would seem to be very fragile to changes in their environment.

They have a few names, 'Sicyopterus stimpsoni, commonly known as the Nopoli rockclimbing goby, oopu nopili, or Stimpson's goby,'

and some info from Wiki-

'The species in its adult form is found in the upper parts of clear, fast-running mountain streams, where there is clean gravel and rocks with no sedimentation, allowing the growth of algae on rock surfaces. It is found on all the Hawaiian islands, although it has become rare on O‘ahu. The species is herbivorous, feeding only on diatoms and filamentous algae, and vigorously defending its feeding patch. The males display brilliant blue and red colours during the breeding season, colours which change with the mood of the fish. The females attach their eggs to rocks where they are fertilised by the males, and the hatchlings are immediately washed downstream into the sea, where they develop, later to return to the freshwater pools upstream, where they live for several years. To arrive at these pools the juveniles need to climb the vertical rock under and beside very high waterfalls. The climbing is postponed until their mouthparts have moved from a forward-facing position to under the body. This change is effected in two days, altering their diet from that of an omnivore to feeding almost exclusively on algae growing on the rock surfaces, and not coincidentally enabling them to ascend slippery waterfall rocks by using mouth and pelvic suckers.'

quotes from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicyopterus_stimpsoni)