Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Seven Strange, but REAL Plants and Animals

The world is full of strange things, and many of them are perfectly true. Here are some strange organisms you may not have heard of:

Saola - Aka Gilled Antelope
For years, the natives told stories of polite and quiet antelope that breathed using gills, scientists dismissed the stories until they actually found them. The gills are actually scent glands, but they’re still a bizarre creatures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saola

The Sheep Eating Plant
It sounds like a horror film for sheep, but it’s real, a spiked plant that captures sheep and uses them for fertilizer once they’ve starved to death:
http://now.msn.com/sheep-eating-plant-about-to-bloom-for-first-time-in-15-years?ocid=ansnowex

Sea Angel
Some people find these transparent critters cute, but others see them as disturbing. Decide for yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_angel

Hydnora africana
This bizarre plant grows entirely underground, except for the flower which looks something like a cross between a melon and an alien mouth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydnora_africana

Neon Pink Terrestrial Slugs
These Australian mountain slugs are pinker than pink:
http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/giant-pink-cannibal-slug-discovered-australia.html

Dragon Blood Tree
It sounds like myth, or a plot point straight out of Harry Potter, but these trees, in fact, do exist:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracaena_cinnabari

An then there’s this Thing...
A fossilized cigar shaped relative of starfish and sea urchins. Words are insufficient:
http://www.livescience.com/37721-five-fold-symmetric-cambrian-fossil.html

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