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[Verminator]

This is the topic where you can tell other people about crazy living things, whether animal or plant, that most people don't know about. The weirder / more obscure, the better. The only rule is that it must be real. For the sake of this thread, if you've got a really interesting Virus you want to talk about, we'll consider it living.



This is Phronima, a deep sea arthropod that makes a living by cutting open Jellyfish to lay its eggs inside, then inhabiting the dead body and using it as a mobile home for itself and its spawn. Was partly the inspiration for the Alien from the movie of the same name, but is probably slightly creepier and 100% more evil.

[HappyKitty]

The Diving Beetle Larva:




While the Diving Beetle may be pretty well known, the larvae aren't come by that often, and it was the larvae themselves that I first came across as a youngster. I had a little pond by my house (in the winter, it was a skating rink), and I used to catch whatever creatures I could during the summer months. Anyway, one day, I caught about 5 of these fuckers and put them in a mason jar. I checked on them in an hour, and I could only find 4 of them. Thinking that that was strange, I left them alone for another 15 minutes or so. Then, when I came back, there was 3.

It turns out that Diving Beetle larvae are cannabalistic. True shit. It wasn't until the final 2 were left in the jar that I realized this - and saw all the dessicated diving beetle larvae skins floating at the bottom of the mason jar. When I found the last two, I was fortunate enough to see the last surviving one glom onto the other one with it's pincer jaws and suck out its liquified internal organs.


After that, I always took care never to put any bare flesh into the water, and to always make sure I caught some diving beetle larvae, because they were fucking cool.

[ThunderTrout]

Introducing, the Hooded Pitohui:



Its a bird, from New Guinea. However, its a very special bird, because apparently its venomous.

[mellowmonkey1]

The aptly named hand fish.

[mellowmonkey1]

Above was stolen from

http://www.who-sucks.com/animals/real-life-sea-monsters-24-bizarre-creatures-of-the-deep

which has many awesome oddities.

[Wreh]

Everyone say hello to the Birds Of Paradise:

I apologize if more people than I thought have heard of these birds, but that all depends on how many people bought Planet Earth. What you see in this picture is the bird expanding it's throat-wing thing to impress a potential mate. Beautiful, in a sort of creepy blue eyes way.

A Wikipedia article on them. The Planet Earth scene I mentioned featuring them.

[plustax]

An immortal jellyfish.

[vampwix]

I apologize if more people than I thought have heard of these birds, but that all depends on how many people bought Planet Earth. What you see in this picture is the bird expanding it's throat-wing thing to impress a potential mate. Beautiful, in a sort of creepy blue eyes way.

Those birds are awesome. Now if I remember correctly, he didn't get a mate, did he?

[kabu]

The Hendra and Nipah viruses (technically not creatures) are brand spanking new closely related diseases (first emerged in 1994) with anywhere from an estimated 70 to 80 percent fatality rate.  What makes them interesting is that they are zoonotic, capable of being passed from animals to humans.  Pigs, fruit bats, and primarily horses have passed the virus on to people before they die (the animals too).  Some of the first cases were the handlers, veterinarians, and morticians of sick horses in Australia falling ill.
Nipah virus gets from fruit bats to humans when they both drank from the same open containers of palm juice.  Even brief exposure might be infectious, but nobody knows because it's so new.  They're confined to south-east Asia and Australia.  There is no treatment yet.

So pretty interesting in my opinion.

[NinjaSkirt]

This gorgeous body belongs to an aye-aye, or Daubentonia madagascariensis among friends.



It's a primate that lives in Madagascar in canopy areas, and it's got a really long, bony middle finger that it uses to dig out grubs. The aye-aye is nocturnal, and probably always looks like this if you try to wake it in the morning:

[norumaru]

the very, very recently (like "this friday") discovered Bagheera kiplingi, the first spider with a mostly vegetarian diet:


this one is probably better known, but still weird & awesome at the same time:

Damon diadema, or the Giant Tailless Whipscorpion (it's not really a scorpion, it's an amblypygid)

a video of an amblypygid hunting

[norumaru]

i completely forgot this one here:

Vampyroteuthis infernalis, or the Vampire Squid.

amazing footage of one

[Froggenstein]

Presenting the Mantis Shrimp:



Highly carnivorous, highly intelligent shrimp like creatures that end up in seawater aquariums as stowaways when buying 'living' stones (e.g. stones with sea life on it). Best indication that you have one in your aquarium is when all of your expensive fish start disappearing one after the other. And to add to the fun they also make a characteristic popping sound with their pincher's, resembling the sound of breaking glass. And it is strong enough to back this threat up, breaking through the aquarium glass if it wants to.

So not only will it cost your a fortune in livestock, it will also make you fear water damage to your furniture. Ofcourse there are always people who keep these things as pets.

Here's a youtube clip

[norumaru]

Here's a youtube clip

pretty impressive that the emerald crab's shell withstood such punishment for such a long time. i worked at a nature preservation association at the north sea for a year, caring for and repairing the aquariums on our station and one time we got one of these critters, i forgot the scientfic name. it was not bigger than 15cm and less colourful, but still... it was fiercely aggressive, nobody dared to put their hands into the tank (and we're talking about people who handled live, unbond 30-40 cm Lobsters and Edible Crabs on a daily basis). it could crack open a Common Shore Crab (Carcinus maenas) in a matter of seconds, with only 2 or 3 blows, and would even catch fish of more than its own size. it never attacked the tank walls, though (our head bilogist said they couldn't break it anyway), but one time when we were changing the water we got it out of its tank and put it in a plastic crate filled with water. when we approached the crate to put the beast back in the tank, it snapped, panicked and attacked the walls, punching holes into them with seemingly no effort at all.

[Surgemix]

This is a tarsier

It is a small primate that is found in the islands of Southeast Asia.

[J E Skellington]

i completely forgot this one here:

Vampyroteuthis infernalis, or the Vampire Squid.

amazing footage of one

You forgot to include a translation of its full name: Vampire Squid From Hell.

[Enriq]

This is a tarsier

It is a small primate that is found in the islands of Southeast Asia.

And as cute as it may ( or not, depending of opinion) be. It cannot live in captivity.

Yes, I wanted one as a pet so what?!!!!

[Dr Awkward]

Presenting the Mantis Shrimp:

I was going to mention the mantis shrimp myself:

The impact from a blow from the claws and head is only slightly less than the impact of a .22 caliber bullet.

They also have the most complex eyes of any creature, able to see up to 12 primary colours (compared to our 3) and capable of viewing the ultraviolet spectrum alone in as much detail as we see the entire visual spectrum. No one knows why a crustacean living in the murky depths of the ocean has a need for such amazing colour vision.


Since the shrimp was taken, I'll show you the Tardigrade

From 0.1 to 1.5mm long and found all over the world, most commonly living in moss, these cute little guys commonly known as water bears are the toughest creatures on earth.

They can enter a deathlike state called cryptobiosis which allows them to:
- Survive temperatures as low as 272?C (1?C above absolute zero) and as high as 151?C.
- Survive over 1000 times more radiation than a human.
- Survive pressures as low as a vacuum, and as high as 6000 atmospheres (six times higher than the bottom of the deepest ocean trenches.
- Survive completely drying out for at least 10 years (some evidence suggests over 100 years)
- Go without oxygen for a week, while suspended in liquid hydrogen.
- Survive many toxic chemicals, including being boiled in alcohol.

Hoorah for Tardigrades!

[oball]

Mellowmonkey's Mentok the Mind-Taker avatar reminded me of these two:

Cordyceps unilateralis is a fungus that infests ants, partially eats them from the inside out and then alters their brain activity, causing them to climb up and attach themselves to the highest point of a plant.  The fungus then kills them and grows out of the top of the ant's head, releasing more spores to drift down from the lofty spot onto more unsuspecting ants.

Toxoplasma gondii is a bacterium that requires incubation in cats to undergo sexual reproduction.  To accomplish this, when it infects a small mammal like a rat or a mouse, it alters their behaviour and makes them actively seek out cats, as opposed to their normal behaviour of running like hell and hiding when a cat is near.  Oh, and it can also infect humans, and there's evidence that it changes our behaviour as well.

[The_Frederick]

Mellowmonkey's Mentok the Mind-Taker avatar reminded me of these two:

Cordyceps unilateralis is a fungus that infests ants, partially eats them from the inside out and then alters their brain activity, causing them to climb up and attach themselves to the highest point of a plant.  The fungus then kills them and grows out of the top of the ant's head, releasing more spores to drift down from the lofty spot onto more unsuspecting ants.

Toxoplasma gondii is a bacterium that requires incubation in cats to undergo sexual reproduction.  To accomplish this, when it infects a small mammal like a rat or a mouse, it alters their behaviour and makes them actively seek out cats, as opposed to their normal behaviour of running like hell and hiding when a cat is near.  Oh, and it can also infect humans, and there's evidence that it changes our behaviour as well.

I'm sure both of those have been on Cracked.