Share Animal Pictures: For Animal Lovers

[BillTre]

 

[mcastillo356]

@BillTre , that's great!

 

[BillTre]

 

[collinsmark]

The Fruit Bat!

@Evo

 

[fresh_42]

 

[DennisN]

Gosh, that's such a cool photo!

 

[pinball1970]

Look at this little fella!

https://phys.org/news/2023-05-mini-kangaroos-south-australia.html

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

 

[pinball1970]

Holy cow, THAT is amazing.

 

[berkeman]

Yep, @BillTre I've been there and done that. My facemask was probably 4" away from the rock when it turned into an octopus and sprayed me and shot away. Scared the begeezus out of me!

 

[BillTre]

A superb visualization of how chromatophores allow an octopus to blend in with the backdrops

Its not just the chromatophores (colored pigmentation containing cells) but these octopi also have a great control over their surface texture, making little fuzzy branches of skin protrusions over much of their body.
I can't think of other animals that can do this kind of thing.

 

[BillTre]

 

[DennisN]

Really scary looking bird! The stuff of nightmares.

 

[BillTre]

Really scary looking bird! The stuff of nightmares.

Makes me think of Dr. Seuss animals.

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

Body flexibility:

 

[DennisN]

Very, very funny!

This Flying Squirrel Faking Its Own Death Is The Cutest Thing Ever


(Edit: I just saw @BillTre has already posted it above before , but anyway)

 

[BillTre]

Here's a weird one:

 

[Ibix]

Here's a weird one:

Love one of the reply tweets: "I saw that in my back yard after that UFO crashed"...

 

[fresh_42]

 

[fresh_42]

The more I see the less is the difference.

 

[pinball1970]

The more I see the less is the difference.

I love the reassuring grooming once the cat is safe. "You're ok now."

 

[DennisN]

I was wrong calling the heron above the stuff of nightmares.
This shark is way more scary!

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

 

[BillTre]

Manta ray (a filter feeder):

 

[BillTre]

 

[berkeman]

Gotta love how they just dive in! "I'll figure out the whole up-down thing once I get in there..."

 

[BillTre]

This is like stupid pet tricks:

 

[BillTre]

Parasites in this guy:

 

[Andy Resnick]

American Robin (Turdus migratorius) hatchling, we think the eggs hatched between 3 and 5 days ago:

A face that only a mother could love, tbh. :)

 

[strangerep]

(Turdus migratorius) [...]

Hmm. That sounds like the white cockatoos around here who sure like to migrate their turds widely...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

 

[berkeman]

I hadn't heard of this photography competition before, but the winning images are quite good, and can involve some important environmental issues (see #1 in the list, not shown in the image below):

https://www.cnn.com/style/gallery/e...phy-monaco-foundation-c2e-spc-intl/index.html

 

[Swamp Thing]

 

[berkeman]

Little fishy's next to last thought -- "I wonder what that shadow is...?"

(from Facebook today)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Little fishy's next to last thought -- "I wonder what that shadow is...?"

View attachment 329378
(from Facebook today)

Those claws are vicious!

 

[BillTre]

Little fishy's next to last thought -- "I wonder what that shadow is...?"

Many animals have an escape reflex that is triggered by increasingly large dark areas in their visual field (like a shadow getting larger as something (a predator) is getting closer.
This is found in vertebrates and invertebrates. I worked on the bendless mutant in fruit flies. It was a mutation found in flies lacking the escape response triggered by a looming shadow. It lacked a specific synapse in the fly's escape circuitry.

 

[strangerep]

Many animals have an escape reflex that is triggered by increasingly large dark areas in their visual field (like a shadow getting larger as something (a predator) is getting closer.

I noticed the same thing in a pond near my home. Floods had made the pond much larger, and tiny fish were swimming near the edges. But whenever I tried to get close enough to discern what species they were, the whole school darted away into the shadows instantly, only to reappear when I stepped back. It was definitely a good reflex -- many birds were patrolling the pond verges, hoping to strike.

 

[BillTre]

I noticed the same thing in a pond near my home. Floods had made the pond much larger, and tiny fish were swimming near the edges. But whenever I tried to get close enough to discern what species they were, the whole school darted away into the shadows instantly, only to reappear when I stepped back. It was definitely a good reflex -- many birds were patrolling the pond verges, hoping to strike.

When I was younger, I would often try to catch fish (with nets) in the wild to keep in aquaria at home. This was very difficult both because they are fast and they quickly respond to seeing and hearing things.
Work arounds are chemicals (anesthetics), electro-fishing (not always legal), traps (like minnow traps), and seine nets that just net large areas.

seine net

 

[BillTre]

Narwhals

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Narwhals

View attachment 329698

Imagine you are swimming and see that coming at you!

 

[Ivan Seeking]