Talk about Disproportionate

My cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi) is not the brightest. ;)

For a list of fish and plants in the tank and dimensions and décor, go to this link. NOW. (Please? :3)

Magical Mangos (Wait…What?)

Dis is da cute, weirdly-named green mango (Anthracothorax viridis) from Puerto Rico, mostly in the El Toro Wilderness. It’s a large species of hummingbird, described in 1801 by Louis Jean Pierre Vielliot (1748 – 1831), a French naturalist.

Green mangos enjoy hanging around flowers of the lobsterclaw (my favorite lobsterclaw is the parrot lobsterclaw, Heliconia psittacorum).

Go mangos! They taste good.

Meaning the fruit, of course. Heh. Heh heh.

What are YOU Thankful for?

Photograph © 2014 by Jennifer Lynx.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is one of, like, tons of fish posts I’ve written in the past few days. I’ll stop now, sorry. Tomorrow I’ll be showcasing the magpie-shrike (Urolestes melanoleucus) because it’s Black Friday and half the magpie-shrike’s body is black. See?

Shine Bright like a Diamond

Voila! The strange-looking Indus Valley bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus tigerinus). It’s usually bright yellow with blue or dark green patches on its throat that can EXPAND when it croaks.

It’s very large and is found in Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Afghanistan. It looks hilarious when it croaks, with its huge blue patches sticking out.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

I love this frog so much. I almost like it better than the African rain frogs (genus Breviceps).

They eat all kinds of bugs and live in swampy areas.

At the End of the Rainbow, there are………Spiders?

This is the elegant jumping spider (Chrysilla lauta). It lives in rain forests from Burma, China, and Vietnam. The weird part is, though they have been known for a long time—they were described by Thorell in 1887—the only individuals known have been males.

I love spiders, but seriously—colorful spiders like the “elegant jumping spider”? Gross. (But very cute.)

Go elegant jumping spider. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Meet the Butterflies that Drink out of Eyeballs!

In the Amazon, weird phenomena take place—like this one. Butterflies drinkin’ tears.

These are butterflies from the genus Heliconius. They drink out of the eyes of turtles, crocodiles, birds, and HUMANS to get a specific amount of water and salt.

This is actually quite sensible because A) the butterflies are happy and salty and B) the butterflies on the face looks totally savvy.

The most common butterfly species to do this are postmen (Heliconius melpomene), numata longwings (H. numata), zebra heliconians (H. charithonia), and julias (H. julia).

BEHOLD THE WOOLLY PIG!

Betcha never knew that pigs and sheep could crossbreed!

Well, they can’t. (Ha ha! Gotcha there.)

In real life, this is a Mangalitsa pig (like all domesticated pigs, its binomial name is Sus scrofa). It is a natural breed of pig that is descended directly from wild boars. The creature is so fluffy and adorable, and not only that, it’s considered a rare breed of pig.

I want one. Give or take 7,832,912,843,564,078.