Category: Animals
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The Fringed Leaf Frog
The Fringed Leaf Frog (Cruziohyla craspedopus) is one of the rarest amphibians in the world. The 3-inch creature lives a reclusive life up in the Amazon rainforest’s high canopies — it rarely visits the ground — in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The frog’s coloration, of course, is stunning — intermixing green, blue, and purple.…
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Elephant trunk snake: the living relic of Southeast Asia’s wetlands
The elephant trunk snake (Acrochordus javanicus) looks like no other reptile. With sagging folds of skin and scales as rough as sandpaper, it seems more like an experiment from deep time than a creature of today’s rivers. Scientists consider it one of the most primitive lineages of snakes, retaining features that hint at an ancient…
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The flamboyant cuttlefish
The cuttlefish (Sepia latimanus) is a real master of color change. The bioluminescent fish can modify their appearance and shape using flashing LCD-like bands to hypnotize prey before snatching it up. That’s right — these fish use their strobing disco lights to psyche-out crabs and small fish! Like the octopus, the cuttlefish have pigmented chromatophores in…
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The Great Blue Turaco
The beautiful Great Blue Turaco (Corythaeola cristata) is a bird from West and Central Africa’s tropical forests. The birds weigh up to three pounds and grow up to 30 inches long, about a pheasant’s size. While not the most competent flyers, they are excellent climbers, spending most of their time hanging out in the trees. While the great…