Share Animal Pictures: For Animal Lovers

[Jarvis323]

Some creatures I found in my garden.

 

[DennisN]

Some creatures I found in my garden

You've got some good magnification going on there. Nice!
What gear did you use, I wonder? A mobile phone, compact, DSLR or mirrorless camera?

 

[Jarvis323]

You've got some good magnification going on there. Nice!
What gear did you use, I wonder? A mobile phone, compact, DSLR or mirrorless camera?

IPhone X. The camera was only a few inches away. As close as I could get it without losing focus.

 

[BillTre]

Sponge Bob and Patrick sighted on the Retreiver seamount:

 

[BillTre]

Northern Pygmy Owl in British Columbia, Canada:

 

[fresh_42]

Northern Pygmy Owl in British Columbia, Canada:

View attachment 287259

Owls are a nice example of how evolution works. Despite their reputation, they are actually not very smart. They simply do not have to! Their physiological properties make them perfect hunters at night. No need to be smart.

 

[Ibix]

Northern Pygmy Owl in British Columbia, Canada:

View attachment 287259

That owl looks like it's auditioning for the serial killer role in a cop thriller movie.

 

[Astronuc]

Cat butt on my face.

View attachment 287031

Been there, seen that, more times than I can remember.

 

[Rive]

Northern Pygmy Owl in British Columbia, Canada:

I've seen the picture first
...then I've misread that as 'Northern Grumpy Owl'

 

[BillTre]

Well, they look like animals:

 

[fresh_42]

If you are looking at your problem again and again and can't find the clue because you only repeat the same thoughts again and again ...

 

[BillTre]

 

[fresh_42]

View attachment 287588

Looks as if someone leaked information about Covid and hoarding began.

 

[DennisN]

Fascinating topic, and with splendid photos:

Dolphins: Even Smarter Than You Thought (National Geographic)
From learning English symbols to teaming up to trick their prey, dolphin intelligence continues to surprise researchers. National Geographic photographer Brian Skerry catches the dolphins' remarkable behavior in action.

 

[DennisN]

This is a demanding fellow:

Lemur Asks For Back Scratch | Won't Take No For An Answer
Cuddle time for elephants:

Baby Elephants love to cuddle

 

[DennisN]

My two fellows just now:

 

[DennisN]

Some animal photos taken yesterday (using a vintage Helios 44M7 lens, with or without extension tube):

A graceful swan:

A nectar thief on a red flower:

A nectar thief on a yellow flower:

The nectar thief taking off:

...and a fly on a leaf:

 

[Drakkith]

A nectar thief on a red flower:

Hey, they're just borrowing it. They'll return it later!

 

[Rive]

Hey, they're just borrowing it. They'll return it later!

Rather, it's paid service they doin'

I found them bumblebees a bit ... dumb (but likeable: we are trying to get some of them nesting for years already, yet without success).

Once I've seen some of them nesting in a floor crack in a barn, behind a door (they've been slipping trough a cat-hole).
Once the door was opened, they were totally confused and just buzzing in circles where the cat-hole should have been, not finding their way through the missing door
Once the door was closed, they were happily shuttling through the cat-hole again

 

[Drakkith]

I found them bumblebees a bit ... dumb

If you want a good example of a dumb insect, look no further than the June Bug:

It can barely walk, it flies like it's had 9 shots of vodka after taking a Xanax, and rumor has it that it failed its last three math tests.

 

[Jarvis323]

If you want a good example of a dumb insect, look no further than the June Bug:
View attachment 287955

It can barely walk, it flies like it's had 9 shots of vodka after taking a Xanax, and rumor has it that it failed its last three math tests.

The ten lined june beetle is pretty cool.

 

[Rive]

it flies like it's had 9 shots of vodka after taking a Xanax

When it's about weird flying then stag beetles are really unmatched


One would expect to see some dignified, slow cruise by their sound and then seeing that panicked drunken instability at the continuous edge of catastrophe ...

(video is some random google find)

 

[DennisN]

There's something fishy going on here...

I returned to the aquarium in the shopping mall and this time I brought my autofocus lens instead.
Still it was a real challenge taking photos since the fishes moved constantly and unpredictably.

I used a mode called "Continous Autofocus" on the camera (Sony A6000) which is pretty cool since it can track objects in realtime, which is pretty impressive, so that helped quite a bit.

I spent 20 minutes there taking a total of 92 photos, and most of them turned out like this anyway :

But a few got at least decent, here are five:
(so the "success rate" was 5/92 = ca 5 % )

A cropped fish, but I thought it was a bit fun anyway:

 

[berkeman]

Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2021 competition​

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/wildlife-photographer-award-2021-scli-intl-scn/index.html

 

[berkeman]

And a little variation on the theme:

Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2021​

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/comedy-wildlife-photography-awards-2021-scli-intl/index.html

 

[BillTre]

Here are some fun photomicrographs from this year's Nikon Small World Contest:

Developmental series of a clown fish (a small salt water fish common in salt water aquariums):

A slime mold fruiting body:

Head of a Midge:

Network of endoplasmic reticulum (er) in a cell:

It's too bad more people don't get to use a microscopy.
They seem to be missing out on a lot:

 

[DennisN]

Here are some fun photomicrographs from this year's Nikon Small World Contest:

Incredible photos!
The details in the "Head of a Midge" photo made my jaw drop.

 

[BillTre]

The details in the "Head of a Midge" photo made my jaw drop.

If you were to work in a fly (Drosophila) lab, you would see something similar any time you handle flies (usually done under a dissecting microscope).

Flyheads are smaller, so they have fewer detailed pattern elements (like the "hairs"), but they have al the same parts. Drosophilologists have names for all the large hairs as well as the other parts. There are genetic lines of flies where mutations affecting these little details have been identified.

It is similar with almost any biological entitiy.
The closer you look the more organized detail you will find, down to the molecular level.

 

[Drakkith]

Drosophilologists

TIL this was a word.

 

[BillTre]

Star-nosed mole: