Despite the fact that our planet has been developed by humans quite well, we do not know everything about our home. Every year, scientists discover new species of animals and plants, some of which are very unusual. Such organisms live both in the ocean and on land, but not everyone notices the amazing things under their feet.
In continuation - a description of animals that were discovered really recently, last year and this year. All names are given in Latin, so that if you want to know more about these animals, it will be easy to find information on the Internet.
Cebrennus rechenbergi
This is a few strange looking a spider that lives in the heart of the Moroccan desert. Its defense against enemies is unique: if something goes wrong, the spider begins to tumble. At the same time, he moves quite quickly. If the spider is lucky, the wind will also speed up its movement. True, here the spider needs the wind to blow from the enemy, and not towards him.
Torquigener albomaculosus
Quite a long time ago, scuba divers began to record the appearance of strange circles at the bottom of the East China Sea. Moreover, the circles could be very large and almost perfect. At the same time, the circles were also decorated with ornaments, which could be very different. Scientists have been puzzling over for some time what could be the author of these circles, and theories about aliens, mysterious inhabitants of the deep sea, etc. have appeared among ordinary people.
The reason turned out to be simple - a small fish, a male, makes circles, attracting a female.
Dendrogramma enigmatica
This creature is difficult to classify. Scientists have decided that this species is a cross between ctenophores and coelenterates. In addition, representatives of Dendrogramma enigmatica quite closely resemble some extinct species of animals that lived in the seas and oceans more than 600 million years ago.
Deuteragenia ossarium
A wasp that worries about the safety of its offspring. When laying eggs, the female begins to hunt spiders of a certain species. She places each spider she catches in a hole in the ground, where she lays an egg. In addition, she covers the clutch with the bodies of other spiders, at least 13 in number.
Phryganistria tamdaoensis
A very unusual stick insect, whose body length reaches 23 cm. This stick insect is not the largest in the world. However, the fact that no one discovered it until recently speaks volumes. In particular, it tells us that scientists still have something to discover; there are still many animals and plants hiding from humans.
Phyllodesmium acanthorhinum
Another strange creature that scientists attributed to sea slugs. The size of this animal is not so small - its body length reaches 28 cm in length. The slug lives on the Japanese islands and is quite rare.
Limnonectes larvaepartus
These frogs surprised scientists by the fact that they do not lay eggs, but give birth to tadpoles. There are now 6,455 species of frogs, and only a very few species have internal fertilization. Such frogs are very rare, and they are found in Indonesia, on the island of Sulawesi.
Most species of living beings are unrecognizable due to their uniqueness, special abilities, appearance and the very fact of their existence. We no longer pay attention to the diversity and uniqueness of many living organisms that exist today. In this photo collection, we will show unusual living creatures of the planet.
Narwhal or Unicorn (lat. Monodon monoceros) is a mammal of the narwhal family, the only species of the narwhal genus. The body length of an adult narwhal is 3.8-4.5 m, newborns are about 1.5 m. The weight of males reaches 1.5 tons, of which about a third of the weight is fat; females weigh about 900 kg.
The mudskipper (lat. Periophthalmus) is a genus of fish from the goby family (Gobiidae).
Guidak is a species of marine bivalve molluscs from the family Hiatellidae. These large (up to 1.5 kg in weight) organisms have very long fused siphons (up to 1 m in length) and relatively small (up to 20 cm) fragile shell. It is considered the largest burrowing mollusk. The name "geoduck" ("gweduck") is borrowed from the Indians and means "digging deep"
Grimpoteuthis (lat. grimpoteuthis) is a genus of deep-sea octopuses.
Typically, these octopuses reach a length of 20 centimeters when mature, but the largest representative of this genus ever recorded was about 180 centimeters long and weighed about 6 kilograms.
Brevicipitidae (lat.) - family of frogs.
The giraffe weevil (trachelophorus giraffa (lat.)) is a species of coleopteran insect from the tubeweeper family.
Axolotl is a neotenic larva of some species of ambystoma, amphibians from the family Ambystomidae of the order Caudata. Literally translated from the Aztec language, axolotl means “water dog (monster).”
Brittle stars, or snaketails (lat. Ophiuroidea) are a class of bottom marine animals such as echinoderms. They got their name for their unique method of movement - when they crawl along the bottom, their “arms” wriggle like snakes. Russian name“snaketail” is a tracing-paper from the scientific name brittle star (from the Greek ὄφις - snake, οὐρά - tail).
Stomatopods, or mantis crabs (lat. Stomatopoda) are an order of crustaceans.
Spirobranchus giganteus (lat.) is a species of polychaete worms from the family Serpulidae. Widely distributed in the tropical seas of the World Ocean.
Sea bat (lat. Ogcocephalus). Widely distributed, except Mediterranean Sea. They live in subtropical and tropical seas, on the bottom, often at a depth of up to 100 m.
The adult is a dark brown moth. At both ends of the body, the caterpillar has a pair of fleshy processes called “horns” with stinging hairs containing poison. The injection can be painful and cause swelling, nausea, and a rash that lasts for several days.
Pugaporcinus (lat. Chaetopterus pugaporcinus) is a deep-sea worm that will easily beat all its rivals in the competition for the title of “The Strangest Worm.” And not only thanks to the bizarre appearance. This amazing inhabitant of the ocean depths is known in narrow circles as the “flying buttocks.” The world learned about its existence quite recently, in 2007, when scientists from the Aquarium Monterey Bay Research Institute in California found and described about ten specimens living in the waters of Monterey Bay.
Toothed squid ( official name– Promachoteuthis Sulcus). These are not teeth at all, but a special fold of tissue covering the beak of the mollusk. And that's not all. This species is represented by a single individual, so little is known about it. The squid was caught by the German research vessel Walther Herwig in the South Atlantic Ocean. It was pulled to the surface from a depth of 1750-2000 meters.
International Research Institute biological species at the New York state university presented a list of the 10 most unusual biological species described by scientists in 2014. This list is published annually on May 23, the anniversary of the birth of Carl Linnaeus, the founder of the modern classification of living things.
1 . First on the list is a dinosaur from the family Caenagnathidae, which lived in North America. It was there, in the state of Dakota (USA), that his well-preserved skeleton was discovered. Contemporary with Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops, Anzu wyliei had many avian features: a feathered body, tubular bones, a large toothless beak, and a bony crest on its head.
Most members of the family Caenagnathidae were small in size, for which, coupled with their bird-like appearance, they are called “hell chickens.” But Anzu wyliei, which was 3.5 m in length and 1.5 m in height, can hardly be called a chicken. Moreover, despite its hollow bones, it weighed between 200 and 300 kilograms. This dinosaur grew to such a respectable size by feeding on plant foods and, possibly, small animals.
3 . The spiders Cebrennus rechenbergi, living in the Moroccan desert of Erg Chebbi, are distinguished by an original method of movement - pushing off from the ground, they perform a back flip like acrobats, and thus can not only roll down, but also move on a flat surface. At the same time, they move at very high speed and usually use this unusual skill to escape from natural enemies - scorpions and phalanxes.
These spiders are nocturnal, feeding on small insects. In addition, representatives of this species are talented architects. With the help of their long legs, they create bizarre shelters from sand: long tubes that are attached to the surface with the help of a web. In them they hide from danger and the scorching sun.
This species was named after bionics specialist Dr. Ingo Rechenberg, who, inspired by the discovery of acrobat spiders, created a small robot in their image. The mechanical spider models were given the name "Tabbot", which comes from the word "tabaha", which means "spider" in Berber.
4 . An unusual animal, Dendrogramma enigmatica, was found on the seabed 1 kilometer deep off the coast of the Australian province of Victoria. Its shape resembles a mushroom, only upside down: at the end of the “leg” - a cylindrical stalk - there is a mouth, and a wide, strongly flattened disk-“hat” is attached to the bottom.
The length of the Dendrogramma enigmatica stalk is only 8 mm, and the disc diameter is 11 mm. The most mysterious thing about this animal is its place on the evolutionary tree: some scientists classify it as a type of Cnidaria, others as a type of Ctenophora, and still others even consider it a new, separate type. This dispute must be resolved by studying the DNA of a strange creature.
5 . The wasp Deuteragenia ossarium, discovered in the Gutianshan Nature Reserve in eastern China, made the list due to its unusual method of caring for its offspring. Females of this species occupy ready-made cavities for their nests in dry wood or hollow stems of grasses, mainly reeds, where they construct special cells, placing in them a spider prepared in advance for the larvae, on which they lay an egg.
6 . The frog Limnonectes larvaepartus from the northern part of the island of Sulawesi (Indonesia) got its place in the top 10 due to its unique method of reproduction: it gives birth to well-developed tadpoles that continue to develop in water. Among the rest known to science 6445 species of frogs, no one else does this: they either lay eggs, from which tadpoles hatch, or give birth to full-fledged frogs.
Limnonectes larvaepartus has a body length of up to 4 cm and lives in forests, avoiding fast-flowing and deep bodies of water, some of which are inhabited by other Limnonectes species. It lives in a layer of fallen leaves or grass. The boundaries of its range in Sulawesi have not yet been studied in detail.
7 . The 24-centimeter stick insect Phryganistria tamdaoensis is not the largest of the stick insects (there are also specimens up to 60 cm long), but its discovery in Vietnam shows that many subspecies of these peculiar insects are not yet known to science.
In appearance, stick insects are practically indistinguishable from dry twigs and leaves; for such masterful camouflage, their detachment received a second characteristic name - Ghosts. So Phryganistria tamdaoensis, masterfully masquerading as a dry branch, lives in national park There is Tao, which entomologists have visited more than once before, but it was only discovered now.
8 . The nudibranch Phyllodesmium acanthorhinum, which scientists discovered off the coast of Japan, made the list due to its amazing appearance. Bright colors among mollusks are not uncommon, but this one is very beautiful and still managed to surprise everyone. The body of Phyllodesmium acanthorhinum is 20-25 mm long and has a luxurious “neon” pattern.
This marine gastropod is of interest as an intermediate between those species of nudibranchs that feed on hydroid polyps and those that feed on corals. Species of the genus Phyllodesmium often enter into symbiosis with algae that they get from the corals they eat - the algae live in the intestines of the mollusk, providing it with substances that it cannot get from its daily food.
9 . The plant Tillandsia religiosa has long been known by residents of a number of villages in the Mexican state of Morelos, who used it as a Christmas decoration. However, this plant from the Bromeliad family was discovered for science only recently.
The “religious” plant inhabits the rocks of tropical deciduous, oak, coniferous and cloud forests at altitudes of 1,800 - 2,100 meters. Tillandsia cannot be called inconspicuous: it reaches a height of 1.5 meters, ending at the top with a bright pink panicle. Everyone knows it, but it never occurred to anyone that it is a species unknown to science.
10 . Last on the list is the puffer fish Torquigener albomaculosus, which turned out to be the “author” of the mysterious circles on the seabed off the coast. Japanese island Oshima. These two-meter circles with double contours and radial lines have long haunted scientists. The solution turned out to be unexpected - they are “drawn” by the male of this fish, wriggling in the sand, in order to attract a female.
The finished circle serves as a spawning site for them. The grooves surrounding it with a complex pattern protect the eggs laid in the center from too strong bottom currents, and also, possibly, from predators. Japanese photographer Yoji Okata was the first to film a fish drawing a “magic” circle; a little later, the whole process was also recorded on video.
Materials used from an article by Oleg Sokolenko
Ecology
Planet Earth – the only place in a Universe where life exists and we know about it. It turns out that life on Earth can be found everywhere, even in the most, at first glance, places that are not suitable for this. For example, bacteria that feed on arsenic have recently been discovered. There are also more inhospitable environments in which someone manages to settle.
Boiling resin
It may seem impossible that living creatures can be found in swirling lakes of molten resin, but microbes can exist even in such conditions. In the largest natural resin lake on Earth, on the Caribbean island of Trinidad, there are up to 10 million microbes for every gram of sticky resin.
Radioactive waste
A dose of radiation of 10 Gy can kill a person, but red bacteria Deinococcus radiodurans Even a dose of 5000 Gy is not scary. These creatures can withstand radiation levels of 15,000 Gy, making them the toughest bacteria on the planet. They are even listed in the Guinness Book of Records. Microbes survive radiation, which breaks their genome into hundreds of DNA fragments, making multiple copies of that genome.
Boiling water
The boiling water and destructive pressure on the ocean floor at a hydrothermal vent would destroy us in a heartbeat if we happened to be nearby, but this habitat is quite suitable for some amazing creatures.
Underground hot springs in Pacific Ocean are often teeming with annelids and giant clams, and in the Atlantic Ocean these areas are home to blind shrimp and other extreme creatures.
These deep-sea inhabitants breed in mineral waters, which come out of the ground, and also use a process such as chemosynthesis, for energy production. In these dark corners, life exists thanks to the meager light that seeps through small cracks.
Sterile rooms
Before landing probes are sent into space, they are carefully processed and sterilized to prevent them from carrying Earth life into space, and also to avoid confusion with possible alien life. Scientists treat parts of the probes with plasma and radiation and place them in special sterile rooms. Even with these precautions, various groups of microbes manage to survive in such a sterile environment and are inevitably sent into space.
Dead Sea
The Dead Sea got its name for a reason: it is the saltiest body of water in the world, so living in such an environment is quite difficult. However, even in such salty water living beings live: halophilic microbes, which are not bothered by the high salt content in the water.
dry valleys
The dry valleys of Antarctica are so cold and dry that they are often called the equivalent of the regions of Mars on Earth. Despite this, the soil in these places contains a large number of microorganisms, which gives hope that there is life on the Red Planet.
Bowels of the Earth
Life that exists on the surface of the Earth or at the bottom of the ocean can receive energy and nutrition from sunlight. However, scientists have discovered microorganisms that live several kilometers underground in the gold and platinum mines of South Africa, as well as at a depth of more than a kilometer under the ocean floor.
Oxygen-free environment
It may seem surprising that microbes can survive even in the very salty, oxygen-free mud at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, even though the sediments in which they live contain a layer of toxic chemicals called hydrogen sulfide. However, what may seem most surprising is that not only microorganisms can survive there, but also more complex forms of life - Loricifera , which somewhat resemble jellyfish. The existence of such living creatures suggests that some life forms do not necessarily require oxygen to live.
Not only can life exist in lakes under ice, but it turns out that some microbes can live right in the ice. In one of the oldest ice on the planet in Antarctica, scientists have discovered microbes that have been frozen for millions of years.
Space vacuum
An open and hard vacuum in Earth's orbit, with a dose of deadly radiation - the habitat of special creatures with eight legs - Tardigrade . Previously, it was believed that only certain types of bacteria and lichens could survive in conditions of radiation and vacuum. Tardigrades (Tardigrada) also able to withstand conditions with extremely high (about 90 degrees Celsius) and low (minus 196 degrees Celsius) temperatures.
The human body is a complex and intricate system that has been studied by the best minds for several millennia. And this is extreme interesting fact, because, despite this, our body is capable of surprising even doctors, not to mention people without deep anatomical knowledge.
Brain
Impulses from receptors to the brain arrive at an amazing speed of 275 kilometers per hour.
To function, our brain needs energy comparable to the energy of an ordinary light bulb.
The electronic equivalent of the human brain's memory capacity can reach thousands of terabytes.
About 20% of the air from the bloodstream goes to brain function.
The brain is more active at night when we sleep than during the day when we are awake.
The higher the intelligence, the more dreams you see.
Neurons and brain tissue are capable of regeneration throughout our lives.
Different types of neurons transmit information at different rates.
The brain is unable to feel pain; it lacks pain receptors.
Four-fifths of brain tissue consists of fluid.
Nails and hair
Women's hair is on average two times thinner than men's; in addition, the thickness and coarseness of hair depends on race.
The beard and mustache grow faster than all other hair.
The average hair can support the weight of a hundred gram chocolate bar.
Toenails grow 4 times slower than fingernails.
Every day a person loses from fifty to a hundred hairs.
Blondes have the most hair, but they are thinner.
The nail on the middle finger grows the fastest, probably because it is the longest finger.
There is a lot of hair on the human body, as much as our closest primate relatives, but not all of it is so clearly visible.
One hair can remain in place for an average of three to seven years.
Human hair decomposes so slowly that it is virtually indestructible.
Before baldness becomes noticeable to others, a person loses more than 50% of his hair.
Internal organs
The heartbeat generates enough pressure to force blood to flow over a distance of 9 meters.
The small intestine is the largest internal organ in the human body.
The surface area of one human lung is approximately one-fifth of a football field.
Stomach acid can dissolve thin blades.
Total length circulatory system person is 96,500 kilometers. For comparison: the circumference of the Earth is only 40,000 kilometers.
The gastric mucosa is renewed every three to four days.
Women's heart rates are faster than men's.
Scientists have counted about 500 useful functions that the liver performs.
The diameter of the aorta is the same as the diameter of a garden hose.
The left lung is slightly smaller than the right lung due to the fact that the heart is located on the left side.
A person is able to survive without a huge part of his internal organs, such as the spleen, 75% of the liver, 80% of the intestines, stomach, kidney, lung and all organs of the pelvic region. Of course, living without most of the internal organs is not easy, but it is possible.
The adrenal glands change their volume throughout a person’s life.
Basic body functions
The air flow during a sneeze moves at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour.
During a cough, the speed of air movement decreases to 95 km/h.
Full bladder matches the size of a large grapefruit.
Almost 75% of feces consists of water.
Women blink twice as often as men.
Earwax is produced to keep the ears healthy.
There are about five hundred thousand sweat glands on the feet, which are capable of producing half a liter of sweat daily.
Over the course of a lifetime, a person secretes so much saliva that it can fill two Olympic swimming pools.
The average person experiences bouts of flatulence about 14 times a day.
Reproduction
The largest cell in the human body is the egg, and the smallest is the sperm.
Teeth begin to appear six months before the baby is born.
Fingerprints appear on the embryo at three months.
Pregnant women at the beginning of pregnancy have frequent dreams about frogs, house plants and worms.
Almost all babies are born with blue eyes.
On a comparative weight basis, a newborn baby is stronger than an ox.
One in two thousand babies is born with a tooth already grown.
Each of us spent half an hour of our existence in the form of a single-celled creature.
Most men experience erections several times a night.
Sense organs
After a heavy meal, hearing becomes worse.
About one third of humanity has perfect vision.
Unlike men, women have a more developed sense of smell.
If a product is not able to dissolve in saliva, we are not able to taste it.
A person can remember about 50 thousand different smells.
Even the slightest noise causes the pupils to dilate slightly.
Every person has their own scent that is completely unique; Only twins don't have it. Identical twins smell identical.
Old age and death
The ashes of a cremated body weigh on average 4 kilograms.
Nails and hair do not grow after death; they appear longer because the muscles and skin dry out.
By age 60, people lose about half of all their taste buds.
The size of the eyes does not change at all, but the nose and ears do not stop growing until death.
By the age of 60, more than half of men and slightly less than half of women begin to snore in their sleep.
A person remains conscious for 20 seconds after decapitation.
Disease
Most often, according to statistics, heart attacks occur on Monday.
A person can survive without food longer than without sleep.
Normal, not strong sunburn can severely damage blood vessels.
Almost 90% of diseases can be either caused or complicated by stress.
Muscles and bones
To smile you need to use 17 muscles, and to frown - 43.
In the morning we are 1 cm higher than before going to bed, due to the fact that the vertical position contributes to pressure on the spine.
At birth, the number of bones is 300. Over time, some of them fuse, and in an adult there are fewer of them - 206.
The hardest bone is the jaw.
The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue.
To take one step, a person must use 200 different muscles.
The tooth is the only part of the body that cannot heal itself.
It takes twice as long to lose newly acquired muscle mass as it does to gain muscle mass.
Bone is stronger than some steel alloys.
Of the 206 bones in the human body, 52 are in the feet.
Cells
About 16 million bacteria live on every square centimeter of skin.
The outer skin of a person is renewed every 27 days.
Every day the human body produces 300 billion cells.
About 300 million cells die every minute in our body.
We shed about half a million pieces of dead skin every hour.
The imprint of a person's tongue is as unique as fingerprints.
There is enough iron in the human body to fuse a nail 7 centimeters long.
The most common blood type is first. About half of the world's population has this type of blood.
The color of the lips is so bright because the capillaries in them are located directly under a thin layer of skin.
Miscellaneous
The size of a baby's head is 25% of the length of his entire body. The head size of an adult is only one-eighth of height.
The colder your bedroom, the more likely you are to have a nightmare.
Tears and mucus contain an enzyme that can destroy the membranes of many bacteria, thus protecting us from infection.
In half an hour, the human body produces enough energy to bring 4 liters of water to a boil.
Our ears produce more wax when we are scared.
It is impossible to tickle yourself.
Arm span usually matches height.
Humans are the only representatives of the animal kingdom capable of crying due to emotions.
According to statistics, right-handers live 9 years longer than left-handers.
Women burn calories slower than men.
Koalas and primates also have unique fingerprints.
The depression between the nose and upper lip is called the philtrum. Scientists have not yet determined what it is for us.
