Beautiful Animals

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/916/ceratophryscornuta1ir9.jpg

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A face only a mother could love, roseborne.

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rosborne979 wrote:

Amazing! What kind is it?

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First, c.i., Thanks for the wonderful photos of your trip. Loved the whale and the turtles.

Second, curiosity got the better of me. Didn't want to wait to hear from rosborne. A bit of poking around on Google got me to horned frogs, specifically, the ceratophrys cornuta. This is the guy in the picture. They're from the base of the Amazon. There are brownies and greenies. Here's a greenie. Ain't nature grand?

http://www.projectamazonas.com/Images/Flora&Fauna/FloraFaunaGalleries/amphibians/Ceratophrys%20cornuta%2001-small.jpg

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Not many predators could tell him from a pile of leaves on the jungle floor.....

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Sorry the photo didn't work. Here's another:

http://www.amphibiainfo.com/gallery/anura/leptodactylidae/ceratophrys/cornuta/ceratophrys_cornuta_ebinuma_2.jpg

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Here's a bit of a stretch, but a timely one. The BBC online has the following image on it's front page

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/sci_nat_enl_1203381667/img/1.jpg

He is an artists representation of a found frog fossil with items to show it's massiveness........ He's 70-million-year-old and weighed in at around 9 pounds.

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littlek, Goliath frogs are still around and are almost as big as the one in the drawing. They can get to be about seven pounds. A few years back someone imported one of these giants to compete in a frog jumping contest. The other contestants were pissed. The big guy won.

http://www.coffeecountyschools.com/jones/goliathfrog.jpg

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European bee eaters:

http://www.hlasek.com/foto/merops_apiaster_6170.jpg

Carmine bee eaters:

http://montereybay.com/creagrus/Bee-eaters_carmine-GSL2.jpg

Rainbow bee eater:

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Reticulated giraffe:

http://z.about.com/d/pittsburgh/1/7/n/Q/giraffe.jpg

Masai giraffes:

http://www.naturephoto-cz.com/photos/auer/masai-giraffe-IMG_7979mw.jpg

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Variegated orange moth:

http://i.pbase.com/o4/94/339594/1/54484139.VLQZDLKZDLXZHHPRJZLZ9LLZUL0RDZ3LFZXRFZHZNLIZCL5RHHGRCLGRSH6RTLXZOLIZVLSZQHER.jpg

Scarlet winged lichen moth:

http://mothphotographersgroup.msstate.edu/Files/Live/AC/AC8089.jpg

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Being a little self-indulgent tonight.

http://www.bluedolphin.org/NewBDwebsite/Lion%20scans/RunningCheetah_LG.jpg

http://www.aafrican-safari.com/Cheetah_071.jpg

http://www.g9graphics.com/photos/SN3-cheetah-run-after.jpg

http://www.wildcatconservation.org/cheetah%20running%20P%20Cromer.jpg

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Marmoset, the smallest monkey:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/photogalleries/wip-week8-2/images/primary/pygmy-marmoset-big.jpg

Maned wolf:

http://www.nationalwildlife.org/nationalwildlife/images/022004/wolf_jump.jpg

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Mobula ray breaching:

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/11_03/Manta6BAR_663x800.jpg

Same animal, different angle:

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/11_03/Manta2BAR_468x344.jpg

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Roberta wrote:

Mobula ray breaching:

Cool! Why is it doing that? Is it a feeding behavior or something else?

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maybe it's a copy-cat?

http://www.whale-images.com/images/white_sided_dolphin.jpg

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Region Philbis wrote:

maybe it's a copy-cat?

Maybe. But Mantas and Dolphins are very different animals. I know mammals engage in play (they have big brains), but I'm not sure Mantas do the same thing.

Whales breach as part of feeding (bubble netting), and they also seem to breach for play and for signaling (communication). Sharks only seem to breach as part of feeding (attacking seals from below at high speed propels them into the air).

I'm not even sure what all mantas eat. I know the big ones are filter feeders, and the bottom feeders eat mollusks and worms and stuff, but I'm not sure if any mantas pursue fish.

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[URL=http://members.tripod.com/rc-anodizing/PEZT/animalsMM/manta.htm]PEZT[/URL] wrote:

Like many sharks, the eggs of the manta ray hatch inside the female. Single pups, and occasionally twins, are born alive in a process known as aplacental vivparity. Some observers say the mother manta will breach and eject her pup into the air while giving birth. Once born, the four-foot-wide pups can jump entirely out of the water. Adults can only breach, lifting their heads out of the water before reentering.

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ros, that one shot appears to be a crop of this one which shows several in the air at once.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/graphics/2007/11/23/manta01.jpg

Quote:

The pictures were taken in the Sea of Cortez at the southern end of the Gulf of Mexico.

Found in tropical oceans around the world the mobulas off Mexico are renowned for their acrobatics.

They hurtle up from the depths and leap several feet into the air often turning somersaults in the process.

Nobody knows why they do it but theories include it being part of a courtship display, ridding themselves of parasites, chasing prey or simply having fun.

At these times the rays, which can span 12-feet from wing tip to wing tip, congregate in huge schools numbering several hundreds which observers say carpet the ocean floor. And then just as suddenly they disappear.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2007/11/23/eamobula123.xml

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That's amazing. I didn't know they did that.

Here's a Video.

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