News from the animal kingdom
This handout image provided February 6, 2012 by the Florida Department of Agriculture Division of Plant Industry taken September 9, 2011, shows a Giant Africa Land Snail. The snails, which were once thought to be eradicated from South Florida, have returned to the Coral Gables area of Miami-Dade County. The Giant African land snail is one of the most damaging snails in the world because they consume at least 500 different types of plants, can cause structural damage to plaster and stucco on houses, and can carry a
This handout image provided February 6, 2012 by the Florida Department of Agriculture Division of Plant Industry taken September 9, 2011, shows a Giant Africa Land Snail. The snails, which were once thought to be eradicated from South Florida, have returned to the Coral Gables area of Miami-Dade County. The Giant African land snail is one of the most damaging snails in the world because they consume at least 500 different types of plants, can cause structural damage to plaster and stucco on houses, and can carry a
This handout photograph released by www.frogindia.org on February 22, 2012, shows an adult Chikilidae, a new species of legless amphibian known as a caecilian, with eggs and hatchlings at an undisclosed location in north-eastern India on February 11, 2012. – AFP Photo.
This handout photograph released by www.frogindia.org on February 22, 2012, shows an egg clutch of Chikilidae, a new species of legless amphibian known as a caecilian, at an undisclosed location in north-eastern India. Researchers digging through mud in northeast India have discovered a new family of legless amphibians in a rare scientific breakthrough. – AFP Photo.
A file picture shows a 'Brookesia micra' chameleon on the fingernail of a researchers hand in Madagascar, March 16, 2007. The so-called 'Brookesia micra' chameleon, believed to be the world smallest, has been discovered on the island of Madagascar, German and American biologists announced on February 16, 2012. The lizard, with a 16-millimetre body, measures 29 millimetres with its tail full extended. – Reuters Photo.
A tasselled wobbegong shark (Eucrossorhinus dasypogon) is seen lying on the substratum with the head of a brown-banded bamboo shark (Chiloscyllium punctatum) in its mouth in this handout photo taken during an underwater visual census of fishes on the fringing reef of Great Keppel Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia August 1, 2011. Generally, E. dasypogon is known to prey upon invertebrates and small fish, but this unusual field observation highlights its versatility as an ambush predator, according to findi
A squirrel curling up to protect itself from freezing daytime temperatures which have dropped to minus 15 degrees Celsius in Warsaw's central Lazienki Park. Fruit seeds stored away by squirrels more than 30,000 years ago and found in Siberian permafrost have been regenerated into full flowering plants by scientists in Russia, a new study has revealed on February 20, 2012. The seeds of the herbaceous Silene stenophylla are far and away the oldest plant tissue to have been brought back to life. The latest findings co
A handout photo taken on February 24, 2010 and released by Conservation International on February 22, 2012 shows a new lizard species at Ratanak Kiri province, some 600 kilometers northeast of Phnom Penh. A new species of lizard that has striking iridescent rainbow skin, long body and very short legs has been discovered in Cambodia's northeast rain forests. – AFP Photo.
A file picture shows a 'Brookesia micra' chameleon on the fingernail of a researchers hand in Madagascar, March 16, 2007. The so-called 'Brookesia micra' chameleon, believed to be the world smallest, has been discovered on the island of Madagascar, German and American biologists announced on February 16, 2012. – Reuters Photo.
