Month: February 2008

Atlantic Puffin

The Atlantic puffin is a beautiful and brightly colored bird that reminds you a great deal of a Penguin, but has one massive difference. Atlantic puffins have a colorful beak that has helped them to gain the nickname of the “sea parrot.” It is brilliant in coloration during the summer months, but tends to fade

Giant Clam

The Giant Clam is a sad case, he can’t relocate, because he gets just one chance to find a nice place to live. Once he fastens himself onto a reef spot, he cannot unfasten and will sit there for the remainder of his life. These folks, who live only on the bottom of the ocean

Spotted Salamander

In spite of the fact that they are nearly everywhere and are also relatively large, the spotted salamander is something hard to find. They can grow to be about nine inches long and are very prevalent in the deciduous forests from Canada down to southern and mid-western United States, but they are quite good at

Troodon Formosus

The Troodon formosus was a small dinosaur, one that was considered a coelurosaurian, which is to say that it was a member of the same group of evolutionary animals that today’s birds belong to. Scientists have found fossilized remains that show them nesting parents and egg clutches and small infants in nests, so they were

Spotted Scorpionfish

The spotted Scorpion fish lives in coral reefs, in algae encrusted areas or on the bottoms of such places and lies in camouflage or hiding in caves or ledges. They snap up their prey, which is anything that comes near it, and the spines of their dorsal fin contain venom that is a painful sting

Seahorse

Seahorses are truly among the most unique animals in the sea or on land, and it isn’t just because they are shaped like a swimming horse. Contrary to most fish, whose males take no real hand in rearing the young after mating, seahorses are not only animals who do this, but are also monogamous, and

Amazon Horned Frog

The first thing that anyone notices about the Amazon Horned Frog, shockingly, isn’t the horns its the incredible size of them. They can grow to well over 8 inches long and their rotund bodies will easily cover a plate, as they also grow round as well as long. Amazon Horned Frogs live in freshwater marshes

Blue Footed Booby

The Blue Footed Booby, is named, quite appropriately, for his huge blue feet. The males take great pride in them, and during the mating rituals, will show off their feet by doing a strut that is high stepping and designed to show the blue feet to the prospective mate. The more blue their feet are,

Angler Fish

The Anglerfish always seems to look irritated. To be honest, this deep sea fish does have a right to be somewhat upset since it is very probably the ugliest creature in the world, and lives, completely engulfed in darkness, on the most chilly, damp, inhospitable environment in the world, the bottom of the sea. The

African Dung Beetle

There are a great many animals that eat tons of grass a day on the savanna in Africa. These folks make a lot of droppings, or to term it correctly, Dung. Insects such as the scarab beetle, or dung beetle are an important part of the ecosystem be cause they break it up and move

Mayapple

May Apple is known by many different names, Indian apple, Racoonberry, wild lemon, hog apple and American mandrake. It is a perennial herb that can be found growing in moist loamy woodland soils on the East coast of North America from the Southern parts of Maine to Florida and may be found as far West

Sea Star (Starfish)

There are about two thousands kinds of sea stars living in oceans world wide, from tropical seas to very cold sea floors. The kind we see most often is the five armed type, however there are some that will have as many as forty arms. What we call a star fish, isn’t actually a fish

Camel Spider

Camel Spiders have become a household word since the inception of the Iraq war, because of the rumors of huge and bloodthirsty spiders being seen by service men, who also sent photos of spiders that were half the size of a man. The Rumor mill from the Middle east has given us camel spiders that

Black Mamba

Black Mambas are one of the more poisonous snakes alive and are very widely considered the most lethal snake in the world today. They are lightening fast, very nervous, their toxin is more than lethal and they are extremely aggressive when frightened or threatened. The Black Mamba, considered the most poisonous snake in the world

Alligator Snapping Turtle

The Alligator snapping turtle is the largest turtle that lives in fresh water in North America, and is also one of the largest turtles in the world. Looking for all the world like a prehistoric sea monster, it boasts a spiked shell, a jaw that reminds you of a birds beak, thick scaly tale and