The feathers of the rare blue color morph of the typically green and yellow, Yellow-naped Amazon.

Photo by Anthony O’Neil / giraffe-in-a-tree.tumblr

astronomy-to-zoology:

Armadillos have four babies at a time, always all the same sex. They are perfect quadruplets (the fertilized cell split into quarters, resulting in four identical armadillos). Some female armadillos who were captured for research gave birth long after being captured (up to 2 years later). These odd delayed births are a result of the female’s ability to delay the implantation of the fertilized egg during times of stress. This is a result of a reproductive tactic and is a reason why armadillos can easily populate new areas.

On average, an armadillo gets 18 1/2 hours of sleep a day. Armadillos are the ONLY animal other than humans that can get leprosy. There are 20 different species of armadillos, and if the sex organs are disconnected from the animal they are still active. When frightened, armadillos have been known to jump strait up in the air.

Armadillos don’t require a lot of oxygen. Even when they burrow they can stop breathing for up to 6 minutes just by storing air in their tracheas. The regulation of the body temperature of about 32°C is a big problem. Armadillos don’t survive long periods of frost, except the fairy armadillo that lives in Patagonia and hibernates.

The three-banded armadillo hardly digs a burrow; it protects itself by rolling up like a hedgehog. The only opening is covered by the shields of the head and the tail, so that even a dog can’t open this ball. As the body fat would disturb while rolling up, the fat moved to the dorsal part of the animal during evolution.

Image source

How did I forgot how awesome armadillos are o.o

astronomy-to-zoology: Woodpecker Tongues

The woodpecker’s tongue can extend 2/3 its body length. Its tongue is covered in sticky saliva and barbs all over with an ear (a hearing mechanism) at the end of it. So it can listen to its prey. It detects sound. The tongue is so long that it fits its tongue in its head by wrapping around its brain and around its eye sockets. It can move its head/beak up to 15-16 times per second as it strikes a tree. This is incredibly fast. It creates immense forces, 250 more times than astronauts are subjected to. It is 1,000 G’s. The woodpecker has cartilage around the brain that keeps it from shattering.

fyeahcutemoths:

Muslin moth playing ‘dead’

just look at it AAaaaaa

(via thalasuchus)

geretsuna:

fat-birds:

thekotaroo: This is one of our Silky chicken hybrids. That’s his dad in the background being huffy. His mom is the little black puff ball in the far back. :)

Okay that is just PRECIOUS, stoooooooop

Gorgeous.

Funky chickens!

(via dualskar)

theanimalblog:

A white Icelandic horse stands in a fenced in area before being sorted at the Skrapatungurétt sorting pen in Iceland on September 18, 2011.  Photo by: Paul Taggart / Herd In Iceland

theanimalblog:

by: Shaun Walton

theanimalblog:

Rainbow Lorikeet (byTheCameraTrap)

handsomedogs:

Jeanne, our 2-year-old Australian Shepherd.

http://rabidsamus.tumblr.com/

theanimalblog:

Butterfly Fish (by MPBecker)

* Copper Banded Butterfly Fish ;)

theanimalblog:

(by Hawklight)

theanimalblog:

Baby mice growing up fast by blogmywoofs

I miss my lil mice :(

(via mossysnakes)

theanimalblog:

The maned wolf is the largest canid in South America. It is also the tallest wild canid in the world, its stilt-like legs a useful adaptation for spying prey over the tall grasslands where it lives. Despite its name, the maned wolf is not a wolf at all, nor is it a fox, coyote, or dog. It is the only member of the Chrysocyon genus, making it a truly unique animal, not closely related to any other living canid. One hypothesis for this is that the maned wolf is the last surviving species of the Pleistocene Extinction, which wiped out all other large canids from the continent. 

via:pricklepear

Photo taken by Sean Crane in Brazil.

(via eduardo-)

theanimalblog:

Wally the Leopard Gecko by tossed-inthesea