Which animal or plant do you find the most interesting? [Archive]

Miluardo

01-21-2009, 11:27 PM

sea life fo sho. Deep sea life fo dubble sho. They have no concept of not looking fucked and amazing.

I'd have to go with the goblin shark as a winner though. It definatly has the most fucked up mouth I've ever seen.

Oh, and amoeba. They can grow to the size of grapes if nurtured correctly. THAT'D be fucked. A single celled organism just chillin within naked sight... weird.

PenguinsMakinLuv

01-22-2009, 04:54 AM

I'd have to say the blue-ringed octopus, it's the size of a golf ball and when it feels threatened it changes to bright yellow with blue rings.

Miluardo

01-22-2009, 11:55 AM

That's mad cool.

Starfish are badass as well, they eject their stomach on prey to digest them.

DEADBEATDAD

01-22-2009, 01:55 PM

A fucking Platypus. Seriously.

xxombie

01-22-2009, 02:48 PM

Shit living under water scares the shit out of me. Fuck that.
It's interesting because of how fucked it is though.

I now have a new fear of finding grape size amoeba in my food.

Miluardo

01-22-2009, 02:51 PM

Shit living under water scares the shit out of me. Fuck that.
It's interesting because of how fucked it is though.

I now have a new fear of finding grape size amoeba in my food.

ahah. I doubt you would find one, but you have the right to be scared. Water shit / giant single celled organism are creepy.

I see you're online too, are you at school?

SHARP

01-22-2009, 05:51 PM

As the title says, I guess. Not your favourite animal, but one which fascinates you.

Ehh, I can't really answer that question, the animals I find the most interesting happens to be the animals that fascinates me (come to think of it, doesn't that actually mean the same thing?)

But I like spiders. :)

ShutMeUp

01-22-2009, 05:52 PM

Ehh, I can't really answer that question, the animals I find the most interesting happens to be the animals that fascinates me (come to think of it, doesn't that actually mean the same thing?)

But I like spiders. :)

I had a feeling you'd say spiders ;) I'm a fan too. What do you like the most about them?

Monkmaster

01-22-2009, 08:31 PM

I find birds the most interesting. The weird and alluring sounds they can make (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y), and the weird shapes that can manuever with their plumage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARVbLaYbSjo). Plus they can fly. That's always cool.

Yggdrasil

01-22-2009, 09:56 PM

Parrots, definitely parrots. They have charm, intelligence, and powered flight. Also, ants. Ants, in all honesty, are likely the most interesting animals on earth. The size and complexity of their colonies is unmatched in the animal kingdom.

On the other hand, I fucking hate, hate, hate Pandas. Fat pieces of furry shit, who, for some reason, have adapted to eating nutrition-less plants. They give birth once every eight years, and commonly have twins. When this happens, the stupid bitch kills one of them, because her piss-poor diet can't support two kids. And usually, she'll roll over in her sleep and crush her young. About time those useless blobs went extinct :mad::mad::mad:

Hyper-dimension

01-23-2009, 01:33 AM

The Tuatara of New Zealand. It is the oldest living reptile on earth. Of the Class Reptilia, there are four Orders of reptiles. The two(similar) species of Tuatara are the only surviving members of the Order Sphenodontia(the other three being 1. Turtles and Tortoises 2. Snakes and Lizards 3. Crocs and Gators). It looks sort of like an iguana, but it is not a lizard. It's literally a living dinosaur. Remained pretty much unchanged for about 225 million years.

http://www.biologyreference.com/images/biol_04_img0448.jpg

The Thorny Devil of the Australian Outback.

It's got little aquaduct type grooves on it's back that collect dew and run straight to the corner of it's mouth. This is the only way it drinks. And it eats a few thousand ants each day. Is this not the most bad-ass looking lizard ever?

http://my247.com.au/247venue_images/23702-200728-sww_thorny_devil_800.jpg

Drefetr

01-24-2009, 04:38 AM

Ford Prefect

01-24-2009, 04:52 AM

http://squid.us/wp-content/uploads/piglet_squid.jpg

ShutMeUp

01-24-2009, 04:59 AM

http://squid.us/wp-content/uploads/piglet_squid.jpg

Piglet squid!!one :redface:

PenguinsMakinLuv

01-24-2009, 06:08 AM

The greenland shark is really cool, it inhabits the arctic and subarctic waters where the water temperature is between -2 and 7 degrees Celsius. Its the only species found regularly in these cold waters. Its a deep dwelling shark commonly found at depths greater than 600 feet, except when it comes to the surface during the cooler winter months. During the summer the Greenland shark inhabits depths of 600 to 2400 feet. In the winter, it can be found near the surface and near the edge of ice flows.
:eek:

LucidInTheSkyWithDemons

01-24-2009, 10:49 AM

Bioluminescent critters (because they look cool) and benthic critters (for the mystery factor). Carnivorous plants are awesome as well.

SHARP

01-24-2009, 07:57 PM

I had a feeling you'd say spiders ;) I'm a fan too. What do you like the most about them?

Hmm, tough question, but the fact that they've been around for a couple o' hundred millions of years without changing much, says it's a friggin' effective design, just like sharks.

They're capable of producing silk many times stronger than steel, if we look at the strength to weight ratio, and despite all our technological know-how, we still haven't figured out how to replicate it.

Some of them have so effective sensory organs, that they can pick up the wing beat from a fly a meter away, and some of them can literally make a mental 3-D model of what they see, as well as plan an attack in detail, and remember & execute the plan several hours later.

And then there's all the various hunting techniques, some of them are quite genius IMO, there's spiders as big as dinner plates, spiders so small you can hardly see them with the naked eye, and they come in every color you can imagine, including "metallic" versions.
Their physiology and anatomy is about as far from ours as you can get, for example they'll regenerate lost limbs...

I can't put my finger on what exactly I find so fascinating about them, so it's probably all of the above.

Epique

01-24-2009, 08:22 PM

The axolotl.

http://splinteredsunrise.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/axolotl.jpg&imgrefurl=http://splinteredsunrise.wordpress.com/2008/03/&usg=__Afvh5vNiMtle39UYSUi4aclW-H4=&h=202&w=270&sz=12&hl=en&start=16&um=1&tbnid=LtWRGvbqlUTdYM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=113&prev=/images%3Fq%3Daxolotl%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Do ff%26sa%3DN

this one FTW, I was thinking of this when i read the title and spent arout 15 mins lookinf for in on the web to no avail as i didn't have a name. *shakes head woundering why he didn't read the whole thread first*

The Golden Manatee

01-30-2009, 10:48 PM

As the title says, I guess. Not your favourite animal, but one which fascinates you.

I'd say most sealife. From jellyfish to dolphins to coral, I think they're all amazing.

Cuttlefish! They can change their color and texture at the blink of an eye. They can do it so fast that they can produce a strobe-like effect that hypnotizes their prey. They're just so fucking amazing!

http://www.tnaqua.org/Newsroom/HighRes/ComCuttlefish9.jpg

ShutMeUp

01-30-2009, 11:05 PM

Hmm, tough question, but the fact that they've been around for a couple o' hundred millions of years without changing much, says it's a friggin' effective design, just like sharks.

They're capable of producing silk many times stronger than steel, if we look at the strength to weight ratio, and despite all our technological know-how, we still haven't figured out how to replicate it.

Some of them have so effective sensory organs, that they can pick up the wing beat from a fly a meter away, and some of them can literally make a mental 3-D model of what they see, as well as plan an attack in detail, and remember & execute the plan several hours later.

And then there's all the various hunting techniques, some of them are quite genius IMO, there's spiders as big as dinner plates, spiders so small you can hardly see them with the naked eye, and they come in every color you can imagine, including "metallic" versions.
Their physiology and anatomy is about as far from ours as you can get, for example they'll regenerate lost limbs...

I can't put my finger on what exactly I find so fascinating about them, so it's probably all of the above.

Damn right! I'd have said spiders for the sole reason that, like you said, they're survived this long without having to change much. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending which way you look at it), we don't get many interesting spiders round here.

ShutMeUp

01-30-2009, 11:06 PM

Cuttlefish! They can change their color and texture at the blink of an eye. They can do it so fast that they can produce a strobe-like effect that hypnotizes their prey. They're just so fucking amazing!

http://www.tnaqua.org/Newsroom/HighRes/ComCuttlefish9.jpg

I don't know a lot about them but they do sound pretty interesting. They even look interesting, that's gotta be a good sign.

AngryOnion

01-30-2009, 11:46 PM

As the title says, I guess. Not your favourite animal, but one which fascinates you.

I'd say most sealife. From jellyfish to dolphins to coral, I think they're all amazing.

Coral are both plant and animal. The coral have symbiotic algae that the coral cannot live without and the algae cannot live outside of the coral tissue.
Iam very interested in coral. I have some growing in my saltwater tank right now.
hears a pichttp://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj317/lovecraft_2007/DSC02097.jpg

ShutMeUp

01-31-2009, 01:42 AM

Coral are both plant and animal. The coral have symbiotic algae that the coral cannot live without and the algae cannot live outside of the coral tissue.
Iam very interested in coral. I have some growing in my saltwater tank right now.
hears a pichttp://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj317/lovecraft_2007/DSC02097.jpg

I think it's amazing how coral is so important to a lot of sealife, how so many animals and organisms pretty much rely on it.

youngnastyman

01-31-2009, 01:54 AM

http://msp120.photobucket.com/albums/o188/xperryxbitex/GIFs/DramaticChipmunk.gif

OBVIOUSLY CHIPMUNKS ARE SUPERIOR.

ShutMeUp

01-31-2009, 01:57 AM

http://msp120.photobucket.com/albums/o188/xperryxbitex/GIFs/DramaticChipmunk.gif

OBVIOUSLY CHIPMUNKS ARE SUPERIOR.

That's not even a chipmunk! Pick something else :cool:

youngnastyman

01-31-2009, 04:08 AM

That's not even a chipmunk! Pick something else :cool:

dramatic chipmunk is dramatic.

Cliche Guevara

01-31-2009, 04:17 AM

the plant that eats flies.

thats some creepy ungodly shit.

SHARP

01-31-2009, 03:21 PM

Damn right! I'd have said spiders for the sole reason that, like you said, they're survived this long without having to change much. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending which way you look at it), we don't get many interesting spiders round here.

It's more or less the same here in DK, compared to what can be found in the tropical regions...
Ok, we do have a few with kickass colors, and one who is closely related to the big bird bird eaters (a Mygalomorph), but it's only some 1.5 cm long, and damn near impossible to find.

Eresus cinnaberinus. (male, the female is all black)
http://www.ukbap.org.uk/images/286.jpg

Micrommata virescens.
http://www.pavuky.sk/app_images/photogallery/heteropodidae_02.jpg

Argiope bruennichi.
http://insektenfotos.de/Argiope%20bruennichi%20(Wespenspinne)_037.jpg

And our bird eater wannabe, Atypus affinis.
http://www.oeko-msc.de/Atypus-affinis_2.JPG

Slave of the Beast

01-31-2009, 08:16 PM

The wood frog, Rana sylvatica, for its natural ability to withstand the majority of its body being frozen solid. With the aid of some nifty gene splicing in my home lab, immortality could be but a Samsung freezer away.

Micrommata virescens.
http://www.pavuky.sk/app_images/photogallery/heteropodidae_02.jpg

Green Huntsman are beautiful little spiders, which for me is an odd thing to say about a spider.

Lao Tzu

01-31-2009, 08:21 PM

It's like having to pick a favourite from a group of sons/daughters isn't it.
I think fish, in particular smaller ones that can be kept in relatively small aquariums.
Beautiful to watch, easy to keep (usually), come in more varieties than there are stars in the Milky Way.

ShutMeUp

01-31-2009, 08:35 PM

It's more or less the same here in DK, compared to what can be found in the tropical regions...
Ok, we do have a few with kickass colors, and one who is closely related to the big bird bird eaters (a Mygalomorph), but it's only some 1.5 cm long, and damn near impossible to find.

Eresus cinnaberinus. (male, the female is all black)
http://www.ukbap.org.uk/images/286.jpg

Micrommata virescens.
http://www.pavuky.sk/app_images/photogallery/heteropodidae_02.jpg

Argiope bruennichi.
http://insektenfotos.de/Argiope%20bruennichi%20(Wespenspinne)_037.jpg

And our bird eater wannabe, Atypus affinis.
http://www.oeko-msc.de/Atypus-affinis_2.JPG

Yeah, that bird eater wannabe is a cool lookin' dude, really small too. I think we get those in England as well though I don't think I've ever seen one.

The wood frog, Rana sylvatica, for its natural ability to withstand the majority of its body being frozen solid. With the aid of some nifty gene splicing in my home lab, immortality could be but a Samsung freezer away.

That's a really cool trick :o

SHARP

01-31-2009, 09:02 PM

Green Huntsman are beautiful little spiders, which for me is an odd thing to say about a spider.

Yup, they sure are!

Yeah, that bird eater wannabe is a cool lookin' dude, really small too.

Yup, only about 1.5 cm long, but it's got huge fangs for its size.

I think we get those in England as well though I don't think I've ever seen one.

You have them in the southern England unless memory fails (it's the only Mygalomorph naturally occurring in the country), and the reason you hardly ever see them, is because they weave a "sock" that can extend into the ground, or up a tree, and then they carefully camouflage it with dirt/leaves to make it blend into the surroundings.
When some hapless critter crosses the tube, the spider crawls to the spot on the inside, rams its fangs through the silken wall and into the prey, pulls it through the wall, kills it, drags it to the bottom of the tube, fixes the hole, then eats.
Interesting little fellow.:)

Sklang

02-01-2009, 12:47 AM

I miss my old acroporas. I grew about a colony a year and they all were cultivated from little frags. about an inch tall.

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75/Sklang_/tankcloseup1.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75/Sklang_/extremeacroporacloseup.jpg

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a75/Sklang_/extremeporitescloseup1.jpg

cept for the yellow porites. I kept selling frags of that every year. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

ShutMeUp

02-01-2009, 12:03 PM

Yup, only about 1.5 cm long, but it's got huge fangs for its size.

You have them in the southern England unless memory fails (it's the only Mygalomorph naturally occurring in the country), and the reason you hardly ever see them, is because they weave a "sock" that can extend into the ground, or up a tree, and then they carefully camouflage it with dirt/leaves to make it blend into the surroundings.
When some hapless critter crosses the tube, the spider crawls to the spot on the inside, rams its fangs through the silken wall and into the prey, pulls it through the wall, kills it, drags it to the bottom of the tube, fixes the hole, then eats.
Interesting little fellow.:)

Whoa, that's brutal shit for such a tiny spider, I'm even more impressed.

You should make another spider thread by the way :D

SHARP

02-01-2009, 03:24 PM

Whoa, that's brutal shit for such a tiny spider, I'm even more impressed.

Yup, when spiders kill, there's rarely any grace or beauty in it.
Well, the style with which they carry out the attack is often pretty marvelous, but the kill itself is often fast and vicious.:D

You should make another spider thread by the way :D

You're the second person who've said that, guess I better go make one then, think I'll start off with some of the smaller Araneomorphs, all the other spider threads I've made have been based on the ones I keep.

scovegner

02-01-2009, 03:45 PM

Animal : spider
Termites: HUGE fucking pillars of earth they grow in with omgwtfbbq complexity ..
Coral : cool as fuck how it grows so huge over time but all you can see is just covered with life ..

Plant: cannabis .. gets you high, fibers for ropes, seed/oil/fiber for food .. grows well in marginal areas ..

emag

02-01-2009, 09:23 PM

Iam very interested in coral. I have some growing in my saltwater tank right now.
hears a pichttp://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj317/lovecraft_2007/DSC02097.jpgWhat kind is that?
I think coral (and anemones) are awesome. There are tons of different kinds of them and many are superficially like a combo of both plant and animal. I'd love to have a reef tank one day, I love to garden and a reef is a lot like an underwater garden, except there's a lot more action.

Trix Are For Kids

02-02-2009, 12:54 AM

A Sex Panther, RAWR!

dedraic

02-03-2009, 03:35 PM

In truth, I probably couldn't narrow it down all the way. Water life is fucking awesome though, freshwater, saltwater, fish, shrimp, crabs, aquatic frogs and turtles, plants... A significant portion of my life is currently devoted to acquiring more fish, and more tanks, and more plants for the tanks. I've spent hours examining just one tide pool, watching the life interact naturally and occasionally handling a specimen to get a good look at it. I have a feeling my friends think I'm a bit crazy for all that.

But on the same note, I've kept birds, lizards, and frogs in the past. The only thing I refuse to keep are arachnids(sorry SHARP :p) and insects. But even those fascinate me to a great extent. I like rodents, but most of them die too quickly and I tend to become quite attached to my mammalian friends.

I think it's safe to say I'm just fascinated with living things.

And now, to finish off the rambling, these guys right here are probably my favorite critter in the world(at the moment):
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/54/142309507_bd7d3fc47a.jpg

They're like underwater puppies. Mine dances around the tank when I come over in the morning , slightly jumping and waiting for food. Occasionally I'll drop some molly fry in the water, and watch him (and now the jewel chiclid I added to keep him from being bored) chase them down. They change color quite rapidly to display moods, and are aggressive enough that I still have to make sure I chase him around before I move things in his tank to remind him I'm the boss, otherwise he's got a pretty good bite on him and I've got a couple scars on my knuckles to remind me of this.

[/early morning coffee ramble]

AngryOnion

02-04-2009, 12:20 AM

What kind is that?
I think coral (and anemones) are awesome. There are tons of different kinds of them and many are superficially like a combo of both plant and animal. I'd love to have a reef tank one day, I love to garden and a reef is a lot like an underwater garden, except there's a lot more action.

The coral in the pic is a Butternut Stlophora .
That photo is about 6months old,the coral is much bigger now.
Going to do some frags soon:D

Reyin

02-04-2009, 04:02 AM

Personally, my choice is kind of neither. I like mushrooms. They have some of the oddest growing shapes and colors, as well as the way they grow. I'm also a pretty avid mushroom hunter. Mushroom hunting is also a great excuse to get outside and do some hiking through the woods, not to mention Morels, Oysters, Hen of the Woods, and other mushrooms around here, taste great. These are just the varieties around where I live, but just about anywhere has wild mushrooms at some point during the year.

The Golden Manatee

02-04-2009, 10:13 PM

SHARP

02-05-2009, 04:31 PM

The only thing I refuse to keep are arachnids(sorry SHARP :p) and insects.

HA!

Now you fucked up, you have fucked up now!

You forgot Centipedes!

Now you have to go get one, yeah, go get a Scolopendra gigantea, it's fucking big and vicious and venomous and it'll really hate you!

And it's smart too!

:D

Nah, just kiddin' mate, even I wouldn't keep one of those naaarsty fellows, I prefer animals that at least feels indifferent towards me, and doesn't systematically go through the terrarium and targets the weakest point, then tries to claw a way through to the point where the fangs break.
BTW, nice post, how about dropping by here? (http://bbs.zoklet.net/showthread.php?t=5995)
I think we could use your knowledge.:)

dedraic

02-08-2009, 09:27 PM

It's entirely beyond me why people keep those things, alive, let alone as pets. :eek: I really can understand the spiders and most insects, hell, every time I find a mantis it ends up spending some time in a terrarium, but centipedes kinda wig me out on a more visceral level.:eek:

I'll stop by that thread though. Thanks for pointing it out.