Nature
Published on November 19th, 2013
10 amazing animals who maybe you did not know they exist
Hundreds of bizarre animals appear in Ross Piper ‘s new book “Animal Earth“, they are very small, hard to find and see or even faceless, but that does not mean they do not deserve to enjoy popularity.
“Most of the time, if we look at television, most materials are about mammals or other vertebrates. But this is only a fraction of the diversity of animals. I want to show people that animals are very different and that they differ not only in appearance but also in the way they live”, said Piper.
People have cataloged 1.5 million species and Piper argues that there may exist other 200 million species that have not been discovered yet.
Among the species discovered by scientists, Piper chose to put in her book some of the most spectacular creatures .
Annelid (Photo: Alexander Semenov)
Angel of the Sea (Cliona limacina) (Photo: Alexander Semenov)
Sea slug (Chromodoris annul) (Photo: Arthur Anker)
Ribbon worms (Baseodiscus hemprichii) are the longest of all animals, but just how long the largest specimens get is hard to define, as they’re very fragile. In this image, two individuals are tangled together.
A jellyfish (Bougainvillia superciliris) with a hitchhiking amphipod (Hyperia galba)
Segmentation, a distinguishing feature of the annelids is clearly visible here
Much of the body of a brush-head is shielded by chitinous plates
The compound eyes of a cynipid wasp
The spherical test and impressive spines of a sea urchin, Coelopleurus floridanus
This segmented worm has elaborate, colourful tentacles for filter-feeding and gas exchange
Ribbon worms are the longest of all animals, but just how long the largest specimens get is hard to define as they are very fragile. In this image, two individuals (Baseodiscus hemprichii) are tangled together.
Ribbon worms (Baseodiscus hemprichii) are incredible. These are the longest animals in the world (it seems that there was one 54 meters long). Some ribbon worms propagation process is downright bizarre. “Since the female lacks a dedicated birth canal, the act of giving birth is brutal to say the least: the juveniles rupture their mother’s gonads, penetrate the gut wall and squeeze out of the anus,” said Piper in his book.
Source: Slate
Tags: animal, bizarre, nature, photo, species
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Mihalka Tiberiu , editor of Discovery-Zone. News portal for science, technology, nature and travel that aims to be the largest site to popularize science and general knowledge. Discovery-Zone brings daily news of science, investigates and analyses the controversial inventions or discoveries of the past century.
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