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The Ungodly Creatures Thread

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subzero9285

Banned
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C

CTLance

Member
On the subject of insects: These are far from ungodly, actually they're awesome. I just know people are creeped out whenever I mention that I want to own a bunch of hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorrhina portentosa, Gromphadorhina vanwaerbecki, Gromphadorhina grandidieri, Gromphadorhina potentosa et al).

These guys are perfectly harmless (they don't bite), they're very docile, they shun bright light, they're frugal fellows - they eat any dead organic matter you throw in their cage. They can be pretty obstinate at times though, to the point of developing a "personality". They can get as old as three years, at a size of 2–3 inches (5-8cm) and can climp upright glass. They're pretty enthusiastic climbers too, and they fit through pretty narrow openings if they're motivated properly, which makes them escape artists if you're not prepared. Thankfully for the Entomophobics they can't procreate unless it's warm (23-28°C) and damp (40-70% humidity), don't move much when they're enduring conditions outside of that, and die when temperatures drop below ~18°C. Females give birth, they don't lay eggs. Or, rather, they do, but they carry them around inside of their bodies.

And now, let's move on to why they're awesome: they hiss. It's their only means of defense, since they're so slow and harmless. Poke them and they'll hiss at you all menacingly while actually trying to make a "hasty" retreat. Simply adorable.
Males claim territories and defend them against other males by hissing angrily and ramming the offending rival. They even have some "horns" to help with that.

Ok, now for the OH GOD BUGS OH NOES pics.
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Here's a live 'roach cam (click on pic for up-to-date pics, I didn't want to hotlink):

And yes, I actually really want to own some of these. "Cute" they aren't, but there's something to be said about their antics.
 
S

subzero9285

Banned
Nick Baker's Weird Creatures.

NickBakersWeirdCreatures-.jpg


Also many of the creatures in this thread have featured in the BBC's Planet Earth and Blue Planet series.
 
S

subzero9285

Banned
Seeing as how this thread has being resurrected, here's a new fish discovered by scientists recently.

Dracula fish

Scientists have discovered a highly unusual fish with fangs made of bone.

Dubbed the "Dracula" fish, the creature is about 17mm (0.7 inches) long and has been found in only one Burmese stream.

The researchers, from London's Natural History Museum (NHM), believe the fish lost its teeth over evolutionary time, but later evolved the bone fangs.

Writing in the Royal Society's journal Proceedings B, they say the males use the fangs to jostle each other - but do not appear to draw blood.

"When you watch them in captivity you can see the males sparring," said NHM's Ralf Britz.

"They display with their lower jaws open incredibly widely, then they nudge each other; but we don't see any wounds."

Dr Britz, who has worked with Burmese wildlife for more than a decade, named the species Danionella dracula in honour of mythology's most eminent fanged predator.

The tiny specimens came to the UK in a consignment of aquarium fish, and at first the researchers mistook them for another related species.

"After a year or so in captivity they started dying; and when I preserved them and looked at them under the microscope, I thought 'my God, what is this, they can't be teeth'," Dr

"And when I looked in more detail, and stained the bone and cartilage with different colours and used an enzyme to dissolve away the muscle, I saw they clearly were not teeth."

Instead, the jawbones appear to have developed rows of sharp protrusions resembling teeth and presumably serving the same purpose - plus, in the males, these extraordinary fangs.

Using DNA data to place the new species in its family tree, the researchers believe the lineage lost its teeth about 50 million years ago.

Compared to relatives, they appear to reach sexual maturity when their bodies have not fully developed.

The Dracula fish contains 44 fewer bones than its most studied relative, the zebrafish Danio rerio, and these are bones that form late in the zebrafish's life.

The researchers believe the Dracula fish evolved to mature sexually before its body was fully developed - perhaps because individuals reproducing earlier in life had more reproductive success.

Given that these scientists, experienced with the family of fish, did not immediately spot D dracula as a new species, they suggest it is entirely possible that the little fanged creatures are swimming round unrecognised in other aquaria even now.
Click to expand...

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S

sciplore

Member
AHHHHH!!! SOMEONE PUT COCKROACHES IN THIS THREAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I can never return here again and look at the awesome creatures :(.
 
J

Jables

Member
subzero9285 said:
Wall of awesome pictures
Click to expand...

Dude...those pictures are pretty awesome! I think you take the prize for greatest contribution to the thread. And oh ya, fuck Tapeworms and Parasites. Gian killer squid, ugly faced fish, and super poisonous spiders I can handle. Thousands of tiny fucking worms or larvae growing inside of me or bursting out of my skin...that shit can fuck itself right off to hell. That goes for spiders and fish hatching or carrying hundreds of their young on their ass.

I'd like to think I have a strong stomach but this almost made me for spew for reals.

P.S. Fuck Botflys too. This Cracked List has some nice entries. The Japanese Hornet is pretty badass but the Japanese Honey Bee figured out how to rough up it's hole. Goddamn I love nature.
 
F

Forkball

Member
The fish with the transparent head and nostrils that looked like eyes was mentioned on The Colbert Report Thursday night. I'm sure a clip will be up on his site tomorrow.

This thread has 90,000 views, which is pretty insane.
 
N

NR1

Member
subzero9285 said:
The Lyre Bird


The ultimate mimic.

Lyre Bird in action

Video
Click to expand...


Simply amazing! WOW!

To mimic the calls of other birds is impressive in and of itself, but to also mimic human activities is just crazy!
 
C

CTLance

Member
JzeroT1437 said:
Do these things always walk around like this? How do they not dehydrate and die?
Click to expand...
It's sort of their "thing".

They habitually sit motionless on the ground of waterbodies with their mouths open. Their tongue has a worm-like appendage that twitches around to get fish to swim near. You can imagine what follows. They aren't above eating carcasses or the odd water bird, either.

Their main way of defense when cornered is kind of the same: opening their mouth and waiting for something to draw close enough to bite.

Depends on the individual, though. I've seen angered snappers just bite-and-hold someone, still with considerable force, but certainly not with full power. Seems to have hurt like a bitch. Others have lost fingers to them attacking viciously and relentlessly on their way back to freedom.

Some claim snappers have up to 1000 pound in jaw strength (bite force), so... yeah. I've only found this doc when googling, and I'm far too lazy to do the math on what ~200N converts to.
In comparison, the average dog has around 200 to 300 pounds, which is still enough to cause serious harm.
 
C

chaostrophy

Member
Bumped for...

Blue%20Reef%20Giant%20Reef%20Worm%20cropped.jpg




Giant Sea Worm Unmasked as Coral Killer

Aquarists at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay have discovered the identity of a mysterious killer that had been devastating their coral reef display over recent months.

Staff at the award-winning attraction had been puzzled by violent attacks on their fragile living reefs - in some cases the corals had been literally cut in half.

After staking out the display for several weeks, aquarists decided as a last resort to take it apart rock by rock.

Halfway through the process the terrifying perpetrator was finally revealed - a monstrous four-foot-long giant reef worm.

Staff eventually lured it out with fish scraps - but not before it bit through 20lb fishing line.

Curator Matt Slater said: "As part of our tropical marine displays we have been painstakingly propagating a variety of corals. They are extremely slow-growing and every one we have lost to these attacks was a major blow.

"In the end it got so bad that I decided to literally take the display apart to find out who was responsible. I could hardly believe my eyes when I finally caught sight of the culprit.

"It really does look like something out of a horror movie! It's over four feet long with these bizarre-looking jaws. Having done some research we also discovered that it is covered with thousands of bristles which are capable of inflicting a sting resulting in permanent numbness'."

Matt believes it probably arrived as a juvenile in a delivery of living rock from another aquarium.

After being carefully removed the worm - which has been nicknamed 'Barry' by staff - has been re-located into its own tank, safely away from the coral.

"Obviously we're reluctant to feed it on any more of our living coral so we are currently looking at alternatives. Some references suggest it may also feed on seaweed so we'll try it on that in the short term," added Matt.
Click to expand...
 
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