Fauna Fabula: Unreal Animals in the Real World

A photographic collection about the different odds and ends of the animal kingdom.

[appalachianetiquette]

Saw this cool bug in the graveyard but I’m no good with identifying things of the bug variety.

[bird-bat]

That’s a cicada I think

[fromxruin]

This is the prettiest cicada ive ever seen

[ainawgsd]

Jaguarundi

The jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi) or eyra cat is a small wild cat native to southern North America and South America. The jaguarundi has short legs, an elongated body, and a long tail. It has a total length of 21 to 30 inches with the tail taking 12-to-24 inches of that length, and weighs 7.7 to 20.1 pounds. The coat can be either blackish to brownish-grey (grey phase) or foxy red to chestnut (red phase); individuals of both phases can be born in the same litter. The two color phases were once thought to represent two distinct species: the grey one called jaguarundi, and the red one called eyra. The jaguarundi is closely related to the much larger and heavier cougar, having a similar genetic structure and chromosome count. 

Keep reading

[fozmeadows]

LOOK AT THIS MAGNIFICENT ORANGE CATWEASEL 

[end0skeletal]

Read more about trilobite beetles and larva here!

Photos by melvynyeo

[revretch]

I will never not reblog dainty deer-stepping beetle

[lampfaced]

wanna know the best thing about these trilobite beetles?

these are all ladies. 

males look like every other beetle out there, but are the same species. it was a huge mystery for the longest time what the hell a male even looked like, or if there even were males, until they issued a money reward and someone brought in a mating pair. and they couldn’t believe that they were even of the same species because of how different they look.

we have an irl species of giant monstrous ladies and tiny dainty plain males

[riverspecter]

[hollowedskin]

why is this goat so pretty?? it’s like a fairy? what kind of goat is this???

[powerfulwizard]

It’s called a Gulabi, and if you want to see something even better, the adults look like this.  

[strayhopes]

Guillermo del Toro designed this goat

[taxonomyy]

They’re like fucking horse sized it’s terrible

[followthebluebell]

this goat grows up like a pokemon evolution

[llatimeria]

WHAT THE FUCK

[gentlesharks]

[itscolossal]

A Burst of Deep Sea Fireworks: A Rare Jellyfish Filmed by the E/V Nautilus

[thaumaturgically]

Cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia)

[end0skeletal]

Blushing phantom butterfly by Andreas Kay

[tanuki-kimono]

Well named Rosefinch bird, looking like cotton candy in the snow, photo by.

[end0skeletal]

The Tingidae are a family of very small (0.08–0.39 in) insects in the order Hemiptera that are commonly referred to as lace bugs. This group is distributed worldwide with about 2,000 described species. 1. Azalea Lace Bug 2. Sycamore Lace Bug 3. Rhododendron Lace Bug, Hawthorn Lace Bug

[stitchingsanity]

Nature’s lace.

[sixpenceee]

[exotic-venom]

(Trimeresurus albolabris insularis) white-lipped island pitviper

Typically green or yellow, the white-lipped island pitviper population on komodo island are an exquisite shade of teal/turquoise.

[science-is-everything]

Dancing in the dark

Three views of one animal look like a magical dancing sprite in the night sea. A relative of the Man-o’-War, the predatory siphonophore Rhizophysa, is four inches high when contracted (middle) but its stinging tentacles stretch to a couple of feet when fishing. 

[typhlonectes]

Spider Geckos, Agamura persica, from Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan

photographs by Dick Bartlett

[bogleech]

Look at the eyes on the deep sea fish IPNOPS. They’re some of the most modified eyes ever known in a vertebrate. It’s basically lost “eyeballs” in favor of huge, concave lenses, perfect for gathering even the faintest light, possibly used to hunt bioluminescent invertebrates.

I’ve known about these since drawings of them when I was little but I never saw such clear photos of a living one before.

NOAA Okeanos Explorer Program, Gulf of Mexico 2012 Expedition. License: CC By Attribution

[end0skeletal]

The curl-crested araçari is a species of toucan endemic to the Amazon River Basin notable for the modified, curled feathers on its crown.

(Photo sources: x x x x x x)

[adventuresinparadise]

Whoa!!!

[wally-jo]

imagine being this extra

[4838385854948383885848383-deact]

he’s just looking for love

[dimetrodone]

jellies do have a nervous system, albeit a very simple decentralized one (notable for having bidirectional impulse pathways).

Some (box jellies) have eyes too

Sponges however got no nerve tissue (that we know of). Living the good life

[justnoodlefishthings]

cursed image

[sixlegnag]

if it makes you feel better, it has more eyes than that. those are just the big ones.

[dimetrodone]

have you ever heard of the glabrous slipper lobster? they're absolutely gorgeous!!!

I haven’t…

…thank goodness I know now