Exciting exotic animals

[Blondbraid]

This thread is delightful.

Yeah, I thought this forum could use more threads to cheer people up what with all that's going on in the world,
plus there's just so many animals that's just too weird not to share pics and videos on.

Like the Tarsier, the Furby's evil cousin:

[Gilbert]

Did anyone else know there were turtles with soft shells?

These "turtles" are considered a delicacy with high nutrition value and are relatively expensive.
About 20 years ago, I went with my superior to the mainland to meet some writers of supporting materials (I am a mathematics textbook editor if you don't know already). At lunch they ordered a soup with such creature. It's the whole thing chopped into pieces with recognisable limbs (together with claws), head, and the shell still attached, etc...

...and they never ate it, but told me to eat more: "this is great and good to you!" I had no choice but to had some...

Now I have told you this.

[milkanannan]

I always thought anglerfish were pretty metal:



OK in searching for that image I can across this gem:

"...if the deep-sea anglerfish happened to have the cognitive and physical capabilities required to produce its own such films, there’d be decidedly fewer plot twists. Every single movie would go a little something like this: Boy meets girl, boy bites girl, boy’s mouth fuses to girl’s body, boy lives the rest of his life attached to girl sharing her blood and supplying her with sperm. Ah, a tale as old as time." 

Source: https://www.wired.com/2013/11/absurd-creature-of-the-week-anglerfish/

[Reiter]

Those fish always struck me as faintly terrifying. Fascinating specimen, that. I wonder if it is edible; might have gone well with that pancake turtle stew mentioned above.

Now, today's addition: a taxidermical novelty.

Blue whales are extraordinary creatures. They are the largest known creature to have swimmed the Earth. They eat krill, of course. On the brink of extinction, I fear, although their situation is improving. Lovely beings.

Here is a prepared and preserved specimen that they keep in the natural history museum in my city (partially built to accommodate it). It is called the Malmian Whale, after its taxidermist. It is quite big.

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[imgzoom]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Balaenoptera_musculus.jpg[/imgzoom]

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Bear in mind that this specimen is practically in his boyhood: a full-grown blue whale would be about twice as large!

He stranded on the coast on a late autumn day in 1865. The poor creature was quite ineptly killed by local fishermen, after which August Malm arrived from the city museum to examine it. It proved to be a remarkable specimen, and it was later butchered and preserved for the museum, and a little tea-room was built inside. Imagine if it had been fully grown; they could have fitted a whole restaurant, no doubt.

Since the mouth is hinged and can be opened, Mr Malm have a long and varied career, for a cetacean. He has been a travelling exhibit to Hamburg and Berlin, a museum café, a polling station and, undoubtedly, host for many kissing couples. He also did his part in the Winter War, during a donation drive, which I find rather sweet; 'A People is in Peril. YOU can help. See the whale for details.' He still opens shop for Christmas, and on the national election day.
He is still a popular visit for school children, and I still find it rather thrilling to see the whale. It is magnificent to think of these titanic creatures.

Here is a picture of a skull from an adult specimen:

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Compare it to the size of the skull in the previous picture. 'You're gonna need a bigger museum.'

As a parting reflexion on the subject of whales: their blow-holes are, apparently, their nostrils. It is very peculiar.

[Gilbert]

I wonder if it is edible; might have gone well with that pancake turtle stew mentioned above.

Yes. Or at least some subclasses(? subtypes?, subspecies? I'm not good at this), especially in Japan. They brew soup with these fish for noodles/udon.
There used to be a Japanese restaurant nearby which specialised in udon in angler fish soup (though we usually order udon in tomato soup more often).

...

Why am I only posting comments on whether some monsters weird animals are edible here?!!

[Blondbraid]

I'm not sure what it says bout me that I can see a video about a Mexican lizard
that looks like a worm with tiny front legs and the only thing that surprise me
is the fact that a creature that weird isn't extinct, it's not even endangered.

[LameNick]

Mata mata is a small forest creature that is too fat to hunt or forage and arms sticking from under it’s chin are too short to pick anything. It’s only evolutionary advantage is the adorable smile, irresistible to the many occupants of the forest who feed it and predators that take pity on it.
How does mata mata reproduce? Well, it doesn’t, its too lazy to mate. But it is also too lazy to die, so it just grows old forever.


[imgzoom]https://otlibrary.com/wp-content/gallery/mata-mata/mata-mata-turtle-31.jpg[/imgzoom]

This is a factual report from the Amazon.

[Blondbraid]

I just found out about the Arabian Sand Boa, and it's gotta be the derpiest-looking snake I've ever seen!

[KyriakosCH]

There's the goblin shark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYpn2u2Wag4

I like the ant-lion, though. Part insect, part living metaphor for a demon.
It is also quite interesting that it later on morphs into another being, which is tame - some type of fruitfly. Imagine having to get through hunting in the sand-dunes and luring other insects to the bottom of the pit of quick-sand you built to introduce them to your mandibles, only so that in the next stage you are a nerdy fruitfly.

[Blondbraid]

I like the ant-lion, though. Part insect, part living metaphor for a demon.
It is also quite interesting that it later on morphs into another being, which is tame - some type of fruitfly. Imagine having to get through hunting in the sand-dunes and luring other insects to the bottom of the pit of quick-sand you built to introduce them to your mandibles, only so that in the next stage you are a nerdy fruitfly.

And the worst part is that said fruitfly often ends up prey to young antlions.

I'm glad being a human means that I'll never have to worry about falling into a crib and getting eaten by the baby!

[KyriakosCH]

^It's good that in our species the young never replace the old - or at least the old can also use lethal force 

[Blondbraid]

With all the crazy stuff happening in the world right now, I think we could use more fun animals around.

Does anyone else just love maned wolves?

[LimpingFish]

Love this little guy...

[Blondbraid]

A cousin of your avatar picture? 

[Blondbraid]

I just found a video of Australian magpies singing, and they sound completely alien:

[Mandle]

I just found a video of Australian magpies singing, and they sound completely alien:

Yup, most people expect them to sound like crows because they look like crows with some with some white patterns added... But that is like expecting zebras to sound like horses.

They are as smart as crows though, in my opinion.

I once fed a magpie in Australia, during a motel stay, and had trained it, over a week, to get up close and take the food from my hand. The bird wasn't looking well: its feathers were in disarray and it was very thin.

Then I moved to a different motel about a kilometer or two down the road.

I spoke with my wife about how we would miss "BosaBosa" (meaning "unkempt appearance" in Japanese, which was our pet name for the bird)

I went out onto the balcony of our new room with some bread to attract some new birds for the rest of our stay and, just then, a single black-and-white mangled-looking feather floated down from above, and then "BosaBosa" swept in and landed on the railing.

We recognized him/her immediately and he/she fed from my hand in the exact manner as before.

I can only imagine that BosaBosa kept track of our movements from one motel to the other.

We fed BosaBosa over the next week and I guess he/she isn't with us anymore but I do remember him or her fondly.

And, if this was a mainstream social media platform I would now brace myself for the usual hate of "Don't feed wild animals you IDIOT!" and "Do you think animals are just there for your enjoyment, tourist???" kind of responses but this is AGS so I'm suuuure I'm safe from that here....

[Galen]

Those birds are clearly in need of tuning. Sounds like a children's musical toy running out of battery.

[Blondbraid]

Cool story!

And, if this was a mainstream social media platform I would now brace myself for the usual hate of "Don't feed wild animals you IDIOT!" and "Do you think animals are just there for your enjoyment, tourist???" kind of responses but this is AGS so I'm suuuure I'm safe from that here....

That's idiotic, as long as you're not feeding them anything dangerous I don't see what's the problem.

Those birds are clearly in need of tuning. Sounds like a children's musical toy running out of battery.

Exactly! My thought was a stage microphone being tampered with.

[Blondbraid]

Anyone else who thinks that mouse deers are simply adorable?

[Blondbraid]

Here is another video on these adorable creatures: