Octopus 2012

Friday, October 7, 2011

World's Most Colorful and Beautiful Game Birds

World's Most Colorful and Beautiful Game Birds

Game birds are any bird hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game birds are also hunted for sport. Here's a list of the most attractive and colorful game birds.

Game birds are any bird hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game birds are also hunted for sport. Here's a list of the most attractive and colorful game birds.

1. Palawan Peacock-pheasant (Polyplectron napoleonis)

Image Source

One of the handsomest birds on the planet is the Palawan Peacock-pheasant. This bird is found in the island of Palawan, Philippines. It is also known as Napoleon Peacock-pheasant. It is a medium-sized bird that grows up to 50 cm long. The tail feathers are decorated with large blue-green ocelli, which may be spread fanlike in courtship displays. The female is smaller than the male and less colorful. It is a threatened species due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size and limited range as well as hunting and capture for trade.

Read more...

Weirdest And Unique Creatures in The Avian World

Weirdest And Unique Creatures in The Avian World

A list of bizarre but beautiful and unusual species of birds.

There are more or less 9,000 known species of birds in the world. On this particular article, you will see a combination of weird-looking and amazingly unique species of birds.
Helmeted Hornbill (Rhinoplax vigil)

Image Source

I am pretty sure that the first thing you'll do when you encounter this creepy creature in the wild is to run for your dear life. Who will not be afraid with the "horrible-looking" Helmeted Hornbill? This bird is a very large bird in the hornbill family. It is found in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. The body length is 95-120 cm. Males weigh 3.1 kg and females weigh about 2.7 kg. Unlike other hornbills, the Helmeted Hornbill's casque is solid, and the skull including the casque and bill may constitute 10 percent of the bird's weight.

The casque is the source of a valuable carving material, hornbill ivory. Indigenous peoples also use the central tail feathers to decorate dancing cloaks and head-dresses. The Punan people believe that a large Helmeted Hornbill guards the river between life and death.

Read more...

Thursday, October 6, 2011

(More) Animals with the Most Prolific Eyes II

(More) Animals with the Most Prolific Eyes II

List of creatures with the most notable and stunning eyes.

The eyes is one of the most important sense of organs. It is through the eyes that one sees the beauty of nature, Thus, the famous saying - "beauty is on the eye of the beholder".
Atlantic Giant Squid

Giant Squid, specifically the Atlantic Giant Squid is believed to possess the largest eyes of all creatures in the world. The size of its eye is over 30 centimeters or 1 ft in diameter. It is thought the Giant Squid cannot see in color, but they can probably discern small differences in tone, which is important in the low light conditions of the deep ocean.

Read more...

Animals with the Most Prolific Eyes

Animals with the Most Prolific Eyes

List of animals with the most notable eyes.

The eyes are often said as "the windows of the Soul". Eyes are organs that detect light, and send signals along the optic nerve to the visual and other areas of the brain.

Here's a list of creatures with the most stunning eyes.

Jumping Spiders
Jumping spiders have large pairs of simple eyes. Jumping spiders have very good vision centered in their anterior median eyes (AME). Their eyes are able to create a focused image on the retina, which has up to four layers of receptor cells in it.

Platycryptus undatus

Image Source

This species of Jumping Spider has a total of 8 eyes. The picture above shows four front eyes of an adult male Platycryptus undatus jumping spider.

Read more...

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Animals Named After Popular Figures, Poets, Philosophers and Others

Here’s a list of animal species named after popular philosophers and other historical figures.

Confucius

The animal species Confuciusormis sanctus which literally mean “holy Confucius bird” is named after the famous Chinese philosopher Confucius. This creature is a kind of feathered dinosaur. It is the oldest known bird to have a beak and have known to have lived about 125 million years ago.

Confucius or Master Kong was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period. ". He lived from 551 BCE to 479 BCE.

Nelson Mandela

A spider called Stasimopus mandelai is named after the popular political figure of Africa – Nelson Mandela. This species thrive in Cape Province of South Africa

Nelson Mandela is the former president of South Africa and one of the great moral leaders of our time. He held the highest office from 1994 to 1999.

Donald Rumsfeld

.

Agathidium rumsfeldi is a species named in honor of Donald Rumsfeld. This creature is a kind of beetle.

Donald Henry Rumsfeld, who born July 9, 1932, is a U.S.-American politician and businessman. He served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977, under President Gerard Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006, under President George W. Bush. Rumsfeld is both the youngest (at 43 years old) and the oldest person (at 74 years old) to have served as Secretary of Defense.

Adolf Hitler

The cave beetle species called Anophthalmus hitleri is named for Adolf Hitler. It can only be found in caves in Slovenia.

Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party and the instigator of the Second World War and hated for the Holocaust.

Jose Rizal

Three animal species were named after Jose Rizal; Draco rizali, a species of flying dragon, Rachophorous rizali, a species of toad and Apogonia rizali, a beetle species.

Rhacophorus pardalis or Harlequin Tree Frog is a species of frog that can be found in the philppines and other Southeast Asian countries.

Draco rizali, or the Flying Dragon, is a member of the genus of gliding lizards named after Jose Rizal. The flying dragon can reach lengths as long as 19 - 23 cm. It feeds on arboreal ants and termites.

José Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonzo Realonda was a Filipino polymath and is well knwn as the Philippine national hero along with Andres Bonifacio.

Dalai Lama

A moth was named after the Dalai Lama. It is scientifically named Orontobia dalailam or Dalai Lama Tiger Moth. It can be found in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Buddhism.

Sappho

The Red-tailed Comet or Sappho sparganura is a medium-sized hummingbird found in the central Andes of Argentina and Bolivia This animal is named after the famous Greek poet Sappho.

Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos between 630 and 612 BCE.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emersonella is a genus of insects named for the famous Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet of the mid-19th century.

See also

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Unique Hermit Crabs in the World

Hermit Crabs are fascinating and intriguing creatures. Here are some cool-looking hermit crabs in the world.

Armed Hermit Crab (Pagurus armatus)

The Armed Hermit Crab or Black-eyed Hermit Crab is a cool-looking hermit crab that can be found in the eastern Pacific Ocean of the US and British Columbia, Canada. It is one of the largest hermit crab reaching a length of up to 4.4 cm. This crustacean’s claws are characterized by bands of color, in red, orange and white.

Red Hermit Crab (Paguristes puncticeps)

The awesome-looking Red Hermit Crab is a hermit crab that can be found in Mona Island in Puerto Rico and other neighboring areas. This creature is characterized by its bright coloration and hairs all over its body, feet and claws.

Spotted Hermit Crab (Dardanus megistos)

The Spotted Hermit Crab or White Spotted hermit Crab is a pretty species that inhabits reefs in Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. It is a large hermit crab that can attain a maximum length of 20 cm.

Coconut Crab (Birgus latro)

Although the Coconut Crab doesn't live on an empty shell it is a hermit crab. The colorful Coconut Crab is a terrestrial hermit crab. It is the world’s largest land dwelling arthropod. It can weigh up to 4.1 kg with a length of up to 40 cm and can be found in the Indo-Pacific region. It is also commonly known as Palm Thief and Robber Crab. This amazing arthropod can live up to 60 years.

Long Clawed Hermit Crab (Pagurus longicarpus)

The Long-clawed Hermit Crab is a small hermit crab and unique for using colorful shells for home. It can attain a length of 1.27 cm and can be found from Nova Scotia to Florida and Texas in the United States.

Strawberry Hermit Crab (Coenobita perlatus)

The Strawberry Hermit Crab is beautiful hermit crab with reddish orange colors. It is a scavenger that can be found in the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean. It has a life span of up to 30 years.

See also

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Weird, Unique and Commercially Important King Crab Species

King Crabs, which are also called Stone Crabs, are crab-like decapods crustaceans that are found mainly in cold seas and oceans. These sea-creatures are large and taste good. Many species of King Crabs are widely caught and sold as food.

Here’s a list of weird-looking, peculiar and commercially significant species of King Crabs.

Hapalogaster cavicauda

Hapalogaster cavicauda is perhaps the weirdest-looking king crab species in the world. It can be found in the Pacific coast of North America. This flattened crab-like crustacean grows to a carapace width of 2 cm and is covered in hair or setae.

Umbrella Crab (Cryptolithodes sitchensis)

The unique-looking Umbrella Crab is endemic to the coastal regions of the northeastern Pacific Ocean from Sitka, Alaska to Point Loma, California. This crustacean that inhabits rocky areas is characterized by carapace that extends over its legs that when it pulls in its legs, it resembles a small stone.

This marine creature has a half-moon shaped carapace that extends over all of its eight walking legs hence it is also commonly called Turtle Crab and Helmet Crab.

Scaled Crab (Placetron wosnessenskii)

The Scaled Crab is a unique king crab species that can be found in the west coast of North America. Its coloration ranges from a clouded green to reddish sometimes with banding along the legs. Ii is usually found at depths of up to 110 meters.

Blue King Crab (Paralithodes platypus)

The Blue King Crab on the above picture was photographed at Saint Petersburg Museum of Zoology, Russia. This peculiar-looking crab can be found n the several islands of Alaska, Japan and Russia.

Blue King Crabs from the Pribilof Islands are the largest of all the king crabs, sometimes exceeding 8.2 kg in weight. Blue King Crabs are among the most important king crab species harvested for human consumption.

Lithodes maja

Lithodes maja is a spiky or thorny king crab species that can be found in the cold waters of North America and Europe. Its carapace can reach a width of 14 cm and covered with large spikes.

Southern King Crab (Lithodes santolla)

The Southern King Crab is another king crab species with a body completely covered with large spike. This brightly-colored crab is known as Centolla in Argentina, Chile and Peru. It can be found off the Pacific coast of South America.

Red King Crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus)

The gigantic and colorful Red King Crab is the most economically important species of king crab. It is endemic to the Bering Sea and grows to a leg span of 1.8 m. Due to its large size and good tasting meat; it is heavily targeted by fisheries. This huge crustacean was named after the color it turns when it is cooked rather than the color of a living animal, which tends to be more burgundy

See also