Lemurs

Submitted by: Melissa K




Ah, lemurs. Aren't they adorable? Yes, that is a scientific fact. This offshoot of the primate family lives in Madagascar, as well as surrounding islands and zoos that are interested in only the finest of animals.

Oh, you want more fun facts you say? Well then. Lemurs are one of only two mammals where the female is dominant (hyenas being the other). Male lemurs, to be quite frank, are sort of useless. Females do everything...including fighting the other females during lemur gang wars. High ranking males strut around with their heads and tails up, to show dominance over the low ranking males (who keep their heads and tails low), with ranking determined by fights. Strutting around without actually having done anything to earn it? Sounds like male lemurs are the animal world's equivalent of a Jersey boy.

One final note: lemurs like to lay out in the sun with their arms outstretched. This is not nearly as adorable as it sounds, hence there will be no sunbathinglemur.jpg. I'M SORRY LEMUR ENTHUSIASTS.

:(

Canadian geese in New York

A wee bit of an overreaction, no? Do we start killing all deer after the next car accident? Pigs because of swine flu? Oh, wait.

(this post would also fit the Humans Are Weird criteria...)

Hispaniolan Solendon

Submitted by: Burns




This beady eyed critter is the Hispaniolan Solendon, one of only a few venomous mammals. Wait...what? Yes, that's right, it has venomous saliva. They are nocturnal animals that dig complex burrows. I don't really know what else to say. But just loooooook at it! But don't touch (venom, you guys).

Thylacine

Submitted by: Burns



The thylacine, formerly native to Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea is also known as the Tazmanian tiger or Tazmanian wolf. I say formerly because they are now extinct. Sadface.

Thylacines were the largest carnivorous marsupials in modern times. As we should know, marsupials have little belly pouches. Thylacines take it a step further as both sexes have pouches (as opposed to only females like most other marsupials). They can also open their jaws up to 120 degrees, which I suppose helps when you are chomping into kangaroos and wallabies. Adorably, thylacines were unable to run very fast due to their "awkward gait" (awww). They kind of make up for it by being able to hop on its two back legs like a kangaroo.

Otters

I probably don't need to explain why I'm linking this, now do I? Courtesy of Kate C.

The new most terrifying creature

Check this guy out:



The camel spider. It's not really a spider, but a solpugid. That doesn't make their existence any less nightmarish. Camel spiders can grow up to eight inches, can run up to 10 MPH (which is ridiculously fast) and can be (will be?) very aggressive. As if spiders (or faux spiders) aren't freaky enough, this particular breed only uses its back six legs while running, with the front two raised in the air acting like antennae. Camel spiders live in the deserts of the Middle East as well as Mexico and the desert areas of the USA. It's sort of comforting to know that I can avoid a duel to the death with these demon spawn by avoiding the desert, but I'm still not entirely cool with sharing a planet with them. At least they don't explode with the little baby spiders flying everywhere like the wolf spider...

Guest Post! : Aye Aye

I am proud to present the first ever animalsareweird guest post, submitted by Kate C spotlighting the Aye Aye. Kate writes:

You may already pride yourself on being a fan of all things monkey, but wait until you meet this endangered little bud of the family tree. The Aye-aye breaks hearts throughout its homeland of Madagascar with huge fiery orange eyes. It is also know to break many a coconut shell and tree trunk with its extra long, pointy-clawed middle finger, used for fishing out delicious larvae and the like. Eeeeek!




Looking at this itty bitty beast, you might swing either way on its law protected status. It's declining numbers are actually due to the native Madagascan-ians believing it to be an omen of ill luck and death (Oh noes!!), prescribing deadness on sight.

Personally, I happen to think that it wins just for having a puffy tail that's larger than its body. Huge success.

Pika

Submitted by: Kate C



This ridiculously cute animal here is the pika. The American pika to be specific. I feel it deserves a second pic.



There we go. At first glance, the pika may seem like it's a hamster or something but it is actually the smallest member of the rabbit family. They like to live in rocky mountainous regions, in between cracks in said rocks. To make the pika even cuter, they sing to each other during mating season. Awww? Yes, awww.

However, it is not all cuteness with the pika. Sadly, due to global warming and high sensitivity to temperature changes, the pika is nearing extinction. Giant :(

Breaking News!

A stoat in the snow. Courtesy of the BBC.

Nudibranch

Submitted by: Carmen



The above nudibranch is the Spanish Shawl. So pretty and elegant! Nudibranchs are colored so brightly to help them blend in with flowers. It's also a warning that they may occasionally be poisonous. Why only occasionally? It tuns out nudibranchs can eat poisonous animals (such as poisonous sponges or sea anemones), and then they can store the poisons in their own body and use that against other predators. Oh yeah, they can also be cannibalistic. As a form of sea slug, nudibranchs have to pretty much eat whatever they can find swimming around (since they are slow). It's rough down there folks.

Dinosnake!

Submitted by: Anna M

The latest hot news in the animal kingdom revolves around the recent discovery of humongous snake fossils dubbed "titanoboa cerrejonensis". More info found here at CNN.com. According to scientists, the snake would weigh about 2,500 lbs and be 42.7 feet long. In layman's terms, the stuff nightmares are made of. I'm mostly concerned that there could be a Titanotarantula in some jungle somewhere. ALIVE.

Groundhogs

Submitted by: Silly Superstitions



Groundhogs, thanks to their magical shadow powers, have a special day dedicated to them in the U.S. and Canada called Groundhog Day. If, after leaving their burrow, the groundhog sees its shadow there will be six more weeks of Winter and everyone in this particular groundhogs region gets upset and angry with the g'hog (chill out people). If it doesn't see its shadow...Spring is near and people start breaking out the shorts. This is very serious business folks. Here's a link to a list of famous groundhogs. Maybe you can get trading cards of your favorite. Punxsutawny Phil seems to be the star of the U.S. Groundhog Shadow Spotting Team, but I'll always be a fan of Alberta's Balzac Billy.

Squirrels

Submitted by: Rebecca, whose love of squirrels is legendary



Squirrels are members of the rodent family, but cuter than rats yet arguably not as cute as prairie dogs (SORRY). Squirrels come in several varieties in the U.S./Canada: Fox Squirrel, Douglas Squirrel, American Red Squirrel, and the Eastern Gray Squirrel (with a variant collectors edition black version). Each type of squirrel also has a ridiculous Latin name because SCIENCE is not content with "squirrel". Whatevs.

I think I can safely assume that we all know squirrels like to eat nuts, but did you know they also eat fruit, fungi, or even meat? Meat is a bit of a desperation move for squirrels, so if you see one with a wild look in its eyes, you might want to steer clear. Or keep some nuts in your pocket. According to Wikipedia, squirrels are unable to digest cellulose "unlike rabbits and deer". That's an odd comparison, but okay, fine Wikipedia. Also, unlike bears and wolverines, goldfish can't tear you apart with their claws. Wikipediaisweird.blogspot.com.

For us humans, there are typically two camps regarding squirrels. There is the "Aww! Lookit him eating that nut! Sooooo cute!" camp and the "Dagnabbit, them no good skorls chewed up mah wires again" camp. In squirrels defense, they need to chew things to keep their teeth sharp. Which, granted, isn't so cute when they set fire to your attic but you should admire them for their dedication to good oral health. Cover up your wires!

Finally, if you are the type of person who enjoys getting fresh meat from your backyard forest (and YOU ARE), here's a nice and not at all bizarre video about "squirrel melts":