Author: I Spy Animals
Elusive, shy of people, a real mystery dog. This wild dog (like the Bush dog) has webbed toes. And, strangely enough, the female dog is way bigger than the male. Not too common in the world of dogs!
Remember Lazarus? Jesus raised him up alive after he had been dead in the grave three days. But in the scientific world, some animals have been raised from the dead after eons of time have gone by. I’m talking about the Lazarus Taxon…or Lazarus Effect: species thought to be extinct, then found to still be in existence today. In 1938, the curator from a South African museum, Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer, was checking out the catch of a local angler. Here’s what she found: “I picked away at the layers of slime to reveal the most beautiful fish I had ever seen,” she…
They aren’t fish, so their name has been changed… …to Sea Jellies Which I like better than their old name… Jellyfish. A sea jelly is made of the top part, called the umbrella, and the bottom part, called the bell. Many live upside down, looking like plants on the ocean floor. But there is so much amazing beauty in a sea jelly, that you need to see more right now… Oooh, I love that snowflake jelly. And the little spaceship one… (well, they all kind of look like spaceships) They do have real names…look at the photos above and see if you can pick…
A few decades ago, a cat breeder had a really wild idea. She saw that people wanted exotic cats as pets. She also saw how often those exotic pets were discarded as they grew from cute kittens to big, hard-to-manage adults. So the cat breeder decided to breed a type of cat that was tame and affectionate, but still exotic in appearance. She chose an Asiatic Leopard Cat, and bred it to a domestic cat. And after several generations of careful planning, what she got was exactly what she was hoping for… The Bengal cat was recognized as a…
The year is winding down, marking my first year of I Spy Animals! It’s been great fun checking out the amazing creatures God has made. And to make sure we don’t forget, I’m posting the most popular posts of this year, in order, just in case you missed something amazing! Here we go… #1 – So what is a black panther, anyway? By far my most read post! What exactly is a black panther? #2 – Hedgehogs as pets? A little overview of hedgehog types. What sort of pets do they make? #3 – Golden Tabby Tigers Did you know there…
A lot of people can’t. Actually, 41% of students tested couldn’t distinguish animals with backbones (vertebrates) from animals without backbones (invertebrates). Vertebrates include mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and birds. Invertebrates are such creatures as insects, crabs, jellyfish, and worms. An easy way to think about it is this: imagine what would be left if an animal died: – skeleton of bones? (vertebrate) or – shell, husk, slime, or nothing? (invertebrate) Check out the sheet below. How many of these creatures are vertebrates and how many invertebrates? And, can you name each creature? Next post, find the answers and read…
Let’s start with looking at the differences in those big cats that have black on tan spots; the cheetah, the leopard, and the jaguar. The IKs* are fairly simple, and if you can remember them, you will never have trouble telling these black & tans apart again! Cheetah IK: Believe it or not, the only big cat with simple round black spots is the cheetah. Leopard IK: This cat has a flower-like pattern of black spots called rosettes. They are the same size all over the body. There is a slightly different fur color inside each one. Yellow leopards and snow…
Let’s have some fun with camouflage! Take a look at the following images and pick out the animal(s) in each one. And DON’T miss the chameleon video at the very end…it’s astounding! Just turn down your speakers; the music is techno-obnoxious. The answers will be at the end of the post…but leave me a comment and tell me how many you found before peeking! # 21 Close up – Do you see it now? Answers #1 – Peringuey’s adder#2 – Leaf frog#3 – Gray cicada#4 – Flower mantis#5 – Willow ptarmigan#6 – Burrowing owl#7 Grizzly bear#8 – Wolf#9 – Jaguar#10 -…
When it comes to camouflage, animals have mastered it.Camo allows animals to blend in, either by color or shape.A leopard’s spots and a tiger’s stripes break up their outline to hide them from prey.Here are some animals that hide using their colors:And some that use their color and shape:Now, let’s see if you can spot the camouflaged creature in the photo belowand if you can’t, here’s a biiiig hint…just scroll a bit!Pretty amazing, right?
After I started scuba diving, I realized that the best thing about being underwater is seeing new things…new, but sometimes also weird. Remember those nudibranchs? Take Christmas Tree worms for example. These guys look like plastic toy Christmas trees in a plastic toy forest. Want to see? Check out their colors! When you first swim by Christmas Tree worms, you think, “Are those plants?” But when you get too close, they all suck back into their holes. The whole forest of them gone in the blink of an eye! These guys don’t move around. They stay in one spot, each one holding…
Black zebras…and now the Chocolate Zebra! Sometimes, a zebra is born with strange stripe patterns and large areas of black. The above zebra however, was sighted in Vumbura, Africa. The safari guide who spotted the pair says that this strangely patterned zebra foal is the third one born to this particular zebra mom since 2005. None have survived to adulthood. 🙁 The following photos illustrate some of the variety possible in the stripes or, in the top and bottom photo, spots of the zebra! To see “White” zebras, check out my blog post “When Zebras Go Pale…”