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I'm in a funny and happy mood today -- Valentine's Day leftover vibes from a very loving and sweet husband and some truly wonderful kids who gave me big hugs! -- and for reasons that defy explanation, I got to thinking about weird animals, while in this cheerful mental space.
I have a particular favorite strange critter and wondered if anyone else, too? And then I figured, Hey! Those TT people are chatty things! Why not ask them?
So... do you have a favorite, particularly intriguing, interesting, odd animal?
My personal choice would have to be the DUNG BEETLE. I helped my son research it for a project last year. Undoubtedly, he chose it because he was fascinated with the idea that these creatures revolve their entire lifespans around the finding, collection, rolling, storage, and consumption of animal waste.
Boys!!!
Your turn!
Posts: 3,177The Spider - Salticus Seticus. (spelling may be wrong)
It's black and white and jumps a lot.
It's only small but fiesty with it. There are loads of this type of spider in my garden in the summer months and although i HATE spiders i really enjoy watching this on as it does STUPID things.
It will leap distances that it seems to know it won't make and does a strange little wobble thing (hard to explain) to try and make the leap. I've never seen a spider do anything remotely this stupid before (apart from always sitting on the top of the door so that when you shut it they get squidged ugh!).
Another thing i like about it is the name......
"All Hail Salticus Seticus the bravest gladiator in Rome" - All togged up in his body armour, a plethora of weapons in his six arms - he needs two to walk - he struts out into the arena and decapitates 12 lions, six Christians, 14 other but lesser gladiators and gets the thumbs up from the emperor and the 20,000 blood thirsty romans in the crowd. He looks cool in his victors laurel wreath too.
I'm in a world of my very own making - who needs TV 
I like Dung Beetles too - in fact i love bugs generally which is why i went organic in the garden about 12 years ago - no pesticides or herbicides for me. My garden has sooo many species of bugs in it that friends don't like coming round sometimes! :dance:
Penny - nuts
LuxembearsDung Beetles! eeeeewwwwww
Spiders!!!!! Hate em hate em hate em hate hate em hate hate hate hate em.......
I like Lizards. Igaunas to be more specific. I used to have a few many years ago. I also love turltes and had many of those growing up.
But my favorite most unusual animal has to be the Great White Shark. I have been fascinated with these magnificent creatures all my life. They are not mindless man killers but wonderful beasts that are rather shy and over the years researchers have discovered that they do not even like to come near humans......but man..can you imagine the terror of a shark attack?!
The movie "JAWS" gave them a terrible rap.
Sharks have several rows of serrated teeth in which when one falls out, it is replaced by a new tooth within 24 hours.
When a Grest White attacks a human it is mainly because they do not know what human is. Technicallt, man does not belong in the sea. Sharks are curious and are scavengers so when they bite a human, but only to "see" what it is. Unfortunatly since they have such powerful jaws , one "test bite" can be fatal.
Okay end of careceridon Megalodone (sp?) lesson!!!!!
Judi, that's so interesting that you write about the "bad rap" sharks have gotten. Peter Benchley, the author of JAWS, died just last week. And when I read about that, I read some comments on his life. I didn't realize until last week that he felt really horribly that his book, JAWS, made into a movie, had such a stigmatizing effect on sharks... and I also didn't know that Peter Benchley himself became a huge shark advocate and toured around the world, speaking and writing as a shark advocate, trying to dispel that reputation that his own book inadvertently helped develop!
On other notes... I like lizards too. One of Noah's friends has a bearded dragon, which is enormous, and we have an eyelash gecko. It's a very cool little critter. He can lick his own eye!!!
Posts: 3,177we have an eyelash gecko. It's a very cool little critter. He can lick his own eye!!!
PUKEY!!!!!! 
Sharks have several rows of serrated teeth in which when one falls out, it is replaced by a new tooth within 24 hours.
Wish i could do that - save on the dentists bills 
Penny :hug:
No, it's cool!!!
Posts: 3,177It reminds me of a friend i had that could lick her own nose - don't ask! 
'Bear' Bottoms OriginalsHee hee, being an animal lover and all... this is fun! I had to think....
I think the strangest animal is the Hyena. What freakishly strange creatures. The 'packs' are completely matriarchal, with a female as a leader and once the males come near sexual maturity, they are attacked and thrown out of the group. The females have 'male parts' if you catch me, and they use them as such to incite dominance over the lesser females in the pack. Hyenas actually hunt more than lions, and lions bully their way in and scavange food from Hyenas, making them in fact more scavengers than the hyena. Hyenas also ONLY fear a male lion. They will actually attack and torment the females, which is where a male lion's role comes in so strong, since they aren't as good at hunting. Wow, I was rambling. I am a fountain of useless animal knowledge..... ha
Kimberly W.
Kim-Bee BearsI think banana slugs are interesting... they are hermaphrodites... I think they can impregnate themselves and after they are pregnant, if I remember correctly, they chew their "male parts" off LMAO... I didnt say I they were cute and cuddly, they are strange but interesting LOL...
Kim-Bee Bears
Sorry Erin LOL
Or is it a sea cucumber and not a banana slug.. either way, they are ugleeee! I tried to find out which was which but I still cant figure out which it is...I think I was wrong, I think it is a sea cucumber...
The first one is a banana slug and the second one is a sea cucumber...
Kim-Bee BearsI am also amused by Nematodes (microscopic wormy things but under a microscope they look funny!) I also think Sea Urchins, Japanese Man of War, Sea Horses and Sea Stars are neat! As you can tell, I love the aquarium!
I just found this out when I was researching... When it needs to defend itself, the sea cucumber is capable of expelling its internal organs.
Both of those things look too snot-like to be animals
LMAO
Kim-Bee Bears
Kim-Bee BearsSNOT SNOT SNOT AND MORE SNOT!
LMAO
... they look squidgee! LOL... My brothers use to sprinkle the slugs in our garden with salt... they didn't like that too much
'Bear' Bottoms OriginalsHAR HAR HAR HAR HAR!!!! That thing (the blob fish) is HILARIOUS!!! and UUUUGLY!!!! It looks like a grouchy bald man who can't control his bodily functions....
Kimberly W.
Kim-Bee BearsROFL oh my I almost peed my pants, Kim !!!! LMAO
'Bear' Bottoms OriginalsHA HA HA HA HAA!!! OK, I need to go to bed. I can practically hear that guy 'ripping one'....
lol
Kimberly W.
Kim-Bee BearsHA HA HA HA HAA!!! OK, I need to go to bed. I can practically hear that guy 'ripping one'....
lol
Kimberly W.
ROFL... oh my.. I hurt myself laughing!!! LOL....
Past Time BearsJiminy crickets, this thread has reeeeaaalllyy deteriorated!!!
Kim-Bee BearsSorry SueAnn 
... I am a little sleep deprived and I kept coming across these strange underwater creatures LOL
Past Time BearsThat's okay . . . I wouldn't have known about the - uh - blob fish (alias bald man) if you hadn't researched and shared. 
It reminds me of a friend i had that could lick her own nose - don't ask! :o
Actually, my son Toby can do that! It's cool, too!
:)
Cracking up here, PenPen...
Love Bud Bears by SandyI love hedgehogs- I want one so bad. I'm working on a pattern so hopefully I can make my own.
We are San Diego Zoo members, and go very often
Erin - I am sitting here very green eyed at the moment. My life's dream is to get to San Diego zoo. I was hoping it would be 2007 but it now looks like 2008 at the earliest (damn the airfares!!) I have only been to two zoos in my life - I have mixed views about zoos and will only support those that are making a difference in the conservation world and San Diego so does that.
Oh, you all picked such cool animals.
Judi - I think sharks are amazing too - there have been reports of a 10 metre shark off the coast here - YIKES. Last year I went to the Sydney aquarium and spent ages watching all the different sharks. amazing and I was face to face with a nurse shark at one stage - so cool!
I can't decide my favourite strange animal - I think in my heart Kiwi and tuatara will always have a special place.
Kiwis not just becuase they are our symbol but becuase they are just so bizarre - they can't fly, they have no tails and they have whiskers!!! They have nostrils at the end of the beaks which they sniff out their food with and wowza you have to admire a kiwi female - her egg is proprotionately the largest in the world and is about 20% of her body weight - that's a big "baby" to push out!! It makes me so sad to think that these birds could be extinct within 20 years - cats and stoats and ferrets kill almost all baby chicks. Oh and kiwis are monogomous and the females are usually the dominant ones - gotta love that!!
Again, tuatara are ever so slightly weird. They belong to the Sphendontia family of reptiles> Lots of people think they are lizards but they aren't, they are the only creature in the world to have survived since the time of the dinosaurs -all other species in their family became extinct about 30 million years ago - that blows me away. Their name is maori and means "peaks on the back". I've seen them a couple of times in my life (in captivity) and they really amaze me - they look ancient
Kim your blobby fish made me laugh!!!
Charlotte Des Roches DesignsOMG...what an interesting bunch of hmmm strange "animals"...hmmmm since when did slugs,bug,spiders... etc...rofl...become animals???? So ...since it's gone there...I love "horney toads" especially the tiny baby ones...you want to see real "miniatures"...they are it!!!!
DoodlebearsHere some strange animal facts for you all.
Slugs have four noses – not so good when they catch a cold.
Ribbon worms have found an answer to the problem of world hunger - when one can’t find food it simply eat itself.
Iguanas, koalas and Komodo dragons all have two penises.
A blue whale's testicles are they size a family car.
Crickets hear through their knees.
Robins eat 3 miles of earthworms in a year.
A skunk can squirt its vile-smelling fluid a distance of ten feet with precision aim. This can be detected by a human a mile away.
An elephant pregnancy averages 22 months but the torment doesn’t stop there - on birth a calf weighs around 200 pounds.
Over the course of its life an oyster changes sex several times.
The flatulance from domesticated cows produce about 30% of the methane in the atmosphere.
In a year, a colony of vampire bats will consume a quantity of blood equivalent to the amount in 25 cows.
Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
Relative to its size the barnacle has the largest penis of all animal.
Snails can sleep for 3 years.
There are 1 million ants for every person in the world.
An average mattress contains 2 million dust mites. YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It must be love - Worms can have up to ten hearts.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a goldfish has a memory span of three seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a goldfish has a memory span of three seconds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Male monkeys lose the hair on their heads in the same way men do.
The elephant is the only mammal that can't jump. (In Olympic events they tend to opt for the Javelin and Shot Put )
Some lions mate over 50 times a day.
The Elephant is the only animal that actually has four knees ! It is also the only mammal that cannot jump !
A robin's egg is blue, but if you put it in vinegar for thirty days it turns yellow.
Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms per day.
Dolphins sleep with one eye open.
There I said they were strange!
Hugs Jane 
