Australian Sea Dragons

Sea dragons are found in south and east Australian water and their types are weedy sea dragon and leafy sea dragon. The scientific name for weedy sea dragon (also known as Common Sea Dragon) is Phyllopteryx taeniolatus, and for leafy sea dragon is Phycodurus Eques. Sea dragons are not as sea horse, but it belongs to the family of sea horse. Weedy sea dragons are usually brown to yellow in body color and leafy sea dragon are generally in red color with yellow spot on their body.

Both sea dragons have long and thin snouts, no teeth or stomach, and their eyes move independent of each other. Weedy sea dragons grow up to a length of about 45 centimeters and Leafy sea dragon can grow up to 35 centimeters. As like sea horse, male sea dragon is responsible for childbearing or reproduction. The male sea dragons hatch the egg and release it into the water after about 4 to 6 weeks.

Dendrobates azureus - Blue Poison Dart Frog

Blue Poison Dart Frog is found in some part of South America. Its scientific name is Dendrobates azureus and its body length is about 5cm long and its weights about 8g. These frogs can be easily known by their blue color, it’s usually darker on the limbs and stomach; especially on the head and neck. The blue poison in their skin helps to protect them from the predators like snakes and reptiles, and it release toxins from its body.

The poisonous alkaloid is located in the skin serve of the blue poison frog which is helpful to protect from the predators. Blue poison frog is an insectivore, but rarely feeds on arthropods (non-insect) such as flies, caterpillars, ants and spiders and its lifespan of 4-6 years. The female frog provides unfertilized eggs for their tadpole nutrition, and never found in water, at the time of laying eggs of about 8 to 10 it can seen in water.

Cylindrophis ruffus - Two Headed Snake

The two headed snake do exist, but rarely can it seen, usually found in Spain. The scientific name for two headed snake is Cylindrophis ruffus. Two headed snakes are conjoined twins, because some will share a stomach and throat but have two mouths, while others will have two separate stomachs and two throats.

Two headed snake was lived in Spain, and also had by Arizona State University, that lived to be 17 years old. Life is complicated for two headed snake. .Since they have two head, each head has a brain, even if it has two stomachs and throat separately will fight each other for their prey; if one head has prey in its mouth while the other does not. Even it has a two head, they cannot communicate each other. Some museums and zoos have this preserved specimens .This snake do not have a long life expectancy, but it will live for 20 years if possible.

Chinese Giant Salamander

The Chinese giant salamander is the largest living species of the amphibian. It belongs to Cryptobranchidae family, reaches a maximum length of 180 cm (1.8 meters). These types of salamander occupy and live in cool, fast-flowing streams, mountain lakes and spend their whole lives in water. The Chinese giant salamander is built with a flat and broad head, wide mouth, small round eyes and a truncated snout.

The habitat of salamander consists of rocky, mountain streams and lakes with clear water, fast-running water. This species is generally found in forest areas and also in below and above sea levels of 1500m. It has a longest unbroken lineage and also contains large tongue and vomerine teeth. During the month of August and September, salamander lays 500 eggs. The skin is usually rough and absorbent with numerous wrinkles. Its tail is almost 60% of the length of its body; the species has a series of coastal and vertebral grooves.

Flying Dragon Lizard

The scientific name for flying dragon lizard is Draco Volans and it belongs to the lizard family and the reptile family. Flying lizard found in Philippines to Malaysia and Indonesia, lives in open and rain forests and also in rubbery plantations and its weight is about 20 grams. Its measures to be 8 inches from its head to its tail tip; female flying lizard is slightly larger than the male flying lizard, and its body color is either brown or gray, but the wings are bright colored. Male wings color is different from the female one.

Flying dragon lizards are diurnal and hide it in the late morning and early afternoon to avoid the most intense sunlight of the day. The special feature for the flying lizard is its wings help to glide from tree to tree and escape from the predators with the help of its wings. Specifically, this animal eats small insects like arboreal ants and termites, and it has many myths and fables and one of them is called Feilong.

Chamaeleonidae

Chameleons belong to the lizard family and are a kind of reptiles. They belong to the family Chamaeleonidae and are about 160 species of them. The unique features of a chameleon lizard are its long tongue and its mobile eyes with a parrot-like foot.Its dramatic feature is the ability to change colour from time to time.

Majority of chameleons lives in Madagascar and Africa, but there is also some species found in India, Northern Africa, Sri Lanka, and Southern Europe. It is a tropical rainforest animal and mostly live up in the trees. But there are also some species that live on the ground, drier such as deserts and savannah grasslands. Chameleons can change their pigments, because it has got special pigment cells under their skin. Different species can change their colour like green, orange, blue, black, yellow, and blue or pink and also colour often changes its moods.

Leptotyphlops humilis - Blind Snake

This species resembles like an earthworm and lives on the underground in burrows under the surface of every continent except Antarctica. Unlike earthworms, blind snakes have backbones and tiny scales. It has no use for vision because its eyes are mostly vestigial. The snake's skull is thick to permit burrowing, and it has a spine at the end of its tail that it uses for leverage. Its length is usually less than 30 cm and is as thin as an earthworm. The western blind snake is pink, brown, shiny, purple, cylindrical and blunt at both ends, and has light-detecting black eyespots. This species and its family are fluorescent under low frequency ultraviolet light or black light.

Rain Forest Dragon

Rain Forest Dragon is found in both upland and lowland rainforest, and is often seen around Lake Eacham and Lake Barrine.It is restricted to the rainforests of northern Queensland in Australia. It has very enlarged cheek scales, a prominent crest, and a yellow dewlap under its chin. Adults are sexually dimorphic, with males larger than females and having larger, blockier heads.

It spends the greater part of its time hanging on the trunks of trees, usually at around head height, although daily movements can exceed up to 100 meters’. When approached, it will usually move around to the opposite side of the tree, keeping the trunk between it and its harasser. Diet consists mainly of invertebrates, with earthworms making up a relatively high proportion. Small fruits and vertebrates are also occasionally consumed. Reproduction is via eggs, with clutch sizes varying from one to six eggs. Females in lowland populations may lay more than one clutch in a season.

Both males and females are appear to be territorial, with males defending an area of around 1,000 square meters. Female territories are smaller, with male territories often containing the territories of more than one female. Lizards commence activity at dawn and cease activity at dusk, remaining active even during rains. Activity is highly seasonal, all but cease during the cooler months, when lizards move into the rainforest shelter.

Australian Emu

Emu is a prehistoric and national bird of Australia that originates about 80 million years ago and it is a second largest bird in the world because of its height. In 1930’s and 1950’s Emu-bird were imported into the United States, but today exporting Emu bird from Australia is strictly prohibited. Emu looks brown in color and a flightless bird, but it can run very fast, up to 30 miles per hour using its strong leg and looks brown in color. Its species name is Dromaius novaehollandiae. The emu bird is a member of the ratite family along with ostrich and kiwi.

Emu is also a good swimmer and its wings are only one-tenth length of its body. They have 3 toes; the underside of each toe is flattened with a broad pad and it includes two main calls: a gutteral grunt and a throbbing drum. Skin on head and neck has free of feathers and has a bluish tinge. Intensity of this color varies according to the season of the year, behavior of the nearby birds and changes in their surroundings. Usually, Emu's lives up to 40 years.

In nature, its nest is a shallow hole by a bush and lined with grass and leaves. . Emus are raise throughout the world and popular bird in worldwide because of its height and unique qualities. Emu eat flowers, green vegetation, insects, fruits, and seeds. It loves to eat caterpillars. Swallow large stones into gizzard will be helpful for grinding process. Emu requires good water daily. Like human beings, Emu also requires 3 times food per day.

Cryptelytrops Rubeus

Cryptelytrops rubeus is new found venomous snake discovered near Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and some areas in Cambodia. Snakes of Cryptelytrops group were familiar to scientists already, but this one differs from the others with the red eyes. They continue with the genetic researches, but the information they posses are not enough. Unfortunately, they believe that these snakes are already endangered.

A ruby-eyed green pit viper raises its head in southern Vietnam’s Cat Tien National Park in May 2000. The park is a stronghold for the new snake species, which inhabits a rather small geographic range where pressures on forests are high. It's not known how well the snake might adapt to other habitats, so it's not clear whether the ruby-eyed green pit viper should be considered an endangered species.

ARMADILLOS CAUSES LEPROSY

A latest study had showed that a strain of leprosy found in humans in the southern U.S. was identical to a strain commonly found in a 9-banded armadillo found in the area. DNA tests show a match in the leprosy strain between some patients and these prehistoric-looking critters - a connection scientists had suspected but until now couldn't pin down. The results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and also suggest that various species of armadillo all around the world could also be a source of leprosy. Armadillos are commonly found in the southern states of U.S.A, specifically in dry open desserts in Texas and Arizona and Louisiana.

Leprosy is a rare and mysterious disease. Among the symptoms of leprosy include slow-growing skin lesions. The condition also affects the eyes, peripheral nerves and upper respiratory system of the body. Leprosy experts have known for a long time that armadillos are capable of carrying the disease, and there have been studies that random cases of leprosy in the United States often occur in the southern states where armadillos are common.



Researchers in the study believe that the leprosy bacterium grows in armadillos, and not with any other animal, because armadillos have low body temperatures, around 32 degrees C or 89 degrees F. The findings discouraged people from repeated exposure from armadillos as well as discouraged cooking and eating their meat

Miniature frog

A new species of miniature frog has been found by Japanese biologist in the Malaysian part of Borneo Island. The new species is named as Microhyla Malang by Masafumi Matsui, who has been conducting fieldwork in Borneo. Microhyla has narrow-mouth described by Matsui which has been reported in the latest edition of the academic journal Zootaxa. Microhyla resides in the western part of Sarawak state and Sabah state.

Matsui while refuting the discovery of a pea-size new species last year that was billed as "the Old World's smallest frog," according to a recently published scientific paper. In that report, he given detailed scientific evidence to cancel the widely reported finding of the Old World's smallest frog, named M. nepenthicola, viewing that it is in reality M. borneensis, a previously described species of Microhyla frog has unique habit of breeding in pitcher plants on the forest floor.






Matsui said M. Malang and M. Borneensis, are very similar in appearance but can be distinguished by body size, color pattern and extent of toe webbing. Previous year, Indraneil Das, a Malaysian scientist at University Malaysia Sarawak, and his German colleague, Alexander Haas from Hamburg University's Zoological Museum, published a paper in Zootaxa in which they explained the smaller form of what had long been regarded by taxonomists as M. Borneensis as a new species, considering the larger form to be true M. Borneensis.

Dragonfly found in vietnam

The new dragon-fly species, the Aethriamanta aethra, has been found in Vietnam during the survey done by WAR at U Minh Thuong National Park in March 2011. The species, found in the National Park, has different colors according to its age and gender.

The male and female aethriamanta aethra are different in colors as said before. The male looks light yellow when it’s small and turns into violet as the animal grows up. The female is yellow with black spots.
According to WAR, there could be many new species of dragonfly in the wetland area in southern Vietnam. So WAR will continue their research in order to find more species in Vietnam and verify all dragonfly taxonomy at the U Minh Thuong National Park.




This dragonfly is named as Chuon chuon tram in Vietnamese. Dragonfly has been found before in other countries such as Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia but has no English name.

Do Manh Cuong, a dragon-fly conservation specialist and Bui Huu Manh, a biologist from WAR, found the species in March.The natural vegetation consists of four main classes and it has been classified into ten types. Melaleuca forests, seasonally inundated grasslands, permanent swamps and vegetation along canals and streams. The forest at U Minh Thuong contains many rare animal and bird species.

new species

The new species—named Tarsius sirindhornae—lived about 13 million years ago. Chaimanee and her team recently found 18 jawbone fossils from the new species in an old coal. Each jaw holds one to four tiny teeth.
Tarsiers are primates that share a common ancestor with monkeys and humans. The big-eyed, nocturnal animals are today found mostly in Southeast Asia.

We know living tarsiers eat insects or small mammals. We expect sirindhornae ate something different but the team will need to do more research to discover what that might be, Chaimanee said.

Species Diversity on lizard study

New research on lizards in the Caribbean demonstrates that species diversification is limited by the environment.

It's long been accepted by biologists that environmental factors cause the diversity -- or number -- of species to increase before eventually leveling off. Some recent work, however, has suggested that species diversity continues instead of entering into a state of equilibrium. But new research on lizards in the Caribbean not only supports the original theory that finite space, limited food supplies, and competition for resources all work together to achieve equilibrium; it builds on the theory by extending it over a much longer time span.

The research was done by Daniel Rabosky of the University of California. The two scientists found that species diversification of lizards on the four islands reached a plateau millions of years ago and has essentially come to an end.

New Species - katydid

A jabbing spiny-legged katydid, new species of plants and animals discovered during just two months of deep rainforest exploration in a small portion of Papua New Guinea's remote forest-cloaked mountains last year.

In the Nakanai Mountains on the large western Pacific island of New Britain, CI scientists worked with local communities to assess new, endemic, and previously un described species at three different sites ranging from lowlands to high elevations in the rugged rain forest-covered mountains.

emerald-green katydid, a brilliantly pink-eyed katydid that lives in the forest canopy (Caedicia), and a sharp-legged katydid with an especially interesting defense mechanism that, when threatened, prompts it to hold its unusually large and spiny legs vertically above its head to jab at predators, a behavior which RAP scientist Piotr Naskrecki described from firsthand experience as "very painful".

New Species of Bee-like Bat

Like most of the Lost World's mammals, this new species of blossom bat is nocturnal. Unlike most other New Guinean bats of the supersize flying fox family, the new bat is only about as big as an average North American bat.

The blossom bat is also "kind of like the hummingbird of the bat world," said biologist Kristofer Helgen, curator of mammals at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

"It uses a really long tongue to lap up nectar and of course gets pollen on it as it moves from flower to flower, so it's also a pollinator—a bit like a bumblebee," Helgen added.

Birds that nest in boxes

Flicker Bird

Snow Bunting

Mountain Bluebird

Bufflehead Bird

Eastern Bluebird

Birds Songs Vary on their Habitat

After vegetation improved in some empty lands in California, Oregon and Washington, during the last three decades, a scientist named Derryberry noticed a lowered pitch in male white-crowned sparrows. She also discovered that the birds slowed down their singing.
This is the first time that anyone has shown that bird songs can shift with rapid changes in habitat. Derryberry performed a comparative analysis of recordings of individual birds, which were made in 15 different regions, and some old recordings that were made in the same places back in the 1970s.
She discovered that both the musical pitch and the warble of the sparrows' short songs significantly lowered. She also include that she was surprised to find that songs had changed in a similar way in so many different populations. She found that in the areas where the foliage did not change, the songs of white-crowned sparrows hadn't slowed down. This means that with the alterations in the foliage songs will become slower and have a drop in pitch.
Derryberry's research adds more evidence to the belief that animals change their acoustic and visual communication depending on the habitat.

Fireflies

In the early evening, flashing lights can often be seen cruising around in the forest. These are the little lanterns on the underside of the abdomen of a carnivorous beetle of the family Lampyridae. These beetles have been misnamed fireflies. It is believed that the flashing light is used by males and females to attract each other. The light is created by an enzyme (luciferase) which reacts with other chemicals in the insect's body to produce light energy. The firefly regulates the emission of light by controlling the amount of air supplied to the cells. The regularity and intensity of the flashing may help fireflies identify males and females. Both the firefly larvae and wingless females can also be also known as glow worms. The larvae of the firefly have a flat, segmented body resembling a kind of serrated flatworm. This larva has two little 'windows' at the back end of the body through which a pale green glow is seen. Why the larva also glows is unknown. (The ability of plants, fungi or animals to "glow" is called bioluminescence.