Beautiful Animals

Thanks Boida, I think you're right - the lack of white eyebrows is uncommon but not unheard of.

Wow, you're good..

I remembered rock hyraxes from the movie Born Free. Also remembered that their closest relatives are elephants. Confirmed this on Wikipedia:

"The closest living relatives to hyraxes are the modern day elephants and sirenians. " (Sirenians are sea cows.)

vonny, Good for you. Your very own arachnid. (BTW, I thought that bog standard had something to do with a swamp. We Americans don't know nuttin'.) The pic of Megan brought a tear to my eye. (I'm such a softie.) She's truly beautiful. Please give her a chin chuck for me. Sigh.

FS, Thanks for the wonderful pic. Who's the cutie?

timur, No klutzitude in you. Just insensitivy to my sensitivity. Is it insensitive of me to mention your insensitivity? If so, sorry. Thanks for the good wishes. Like vonny, I have a soft spot in my heart for shall we say less than stunning critters. The pig hit the spot. (I've had my heart checked recently. Cockles and soft spots are in separate chambers.) Thanks for trying to cool me down. You're a good kid.

tsar, Thanks for the video. I'm semi-embarrassed to admit that I'm familiar with all those animals. Liked looking at them. There's an ugly animal preservation society? And I thought I had too much free time on my hands. Thanks for the blobfish. It looks kinda blobby.

Silver fox:

Scrotum Frog







A name you won't easily forget!

Last weekend, a friend of mine invited me to take some photos of his "roommates":



I wish I'd been more prepared with the full macro kit, but I guess this will have to do.

Fascinating! But a little scary. How many, I wonder?

No good guess, but I'd suppose close to 100?

Thanks, I think.

Good grief, vonny. A scrotum frog. It's kinda cute.

FBM, Are we looking at spider and progeny? Thanks.

HH, Very appealing pic. Raccoons can be formidable. But this guy looks friendly.

Rhea (South American version of the ostrich and emu):

Lovely Rhea, Meter Maid..

Cassowary, another ratite, this one from New Zealand:

An Afghan man washes his horse in Kabul.
Photograph: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters




A yellow scorpion glows in the dark near Sde Boker in the Negev desert, Israel. The venom of Leiurus quinquestriatus, also known as the deathstalker, contains a potent blend of neurotoxins.
Photograph: Uriel Sinai/Getty/via Guardian




Stunning photos of gorillas, dugongs and mushrooms were among the 43,000 entries from 96 countries to the 2013 wildlife photographer of the year competition. The Natural History Museum in London will announce the overall winners in October.
This image is in the running for the Gerald Durrell award for endangered species: Diana Rebman, US: ‘What made all the physical effort worth it was to see the mother with her two babies.’ This is only the fifth set of mountain gorilla twins ever to be reported in Rwanda’s Volcanoes national park.
Photograph: Diana Rebman/2013 WPY/via Guaedian

Playing around with camera, software and a dead moth: