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• Totally ’80s Toad
Inspired by the Trapper Keeper, this Costa Rican variable harlequin toad (Atelopus varius) is all dressed up for ’80s night every night (and days, too). Maybe that’s why the species is known by some as the clown frog. Or maybe it’s because males lack vocal sacs, so attract females with funny moves, like leg and head twitching, foot stomping, and hopping in place. Due to the pet trade, habitat loss, and a widespread fungal infection, these toads have recently become endangered.
• One Smug Hunter
Picture this: You’re a field mouse, minding your business, doing whatever it is field mice do during bitter North American winters. You think, oh, maybe I’ll go for a walk, work up a sweat. As you creep out of your hole, and the morning sun hits your eyes…boom! You’re dead, killed by a great gray owl that hurtled headfirst into the ground to snap you up for breakfast. According to National Geographic, the largest owls in North America are able to hunt in this fashion because of “large facial disks that funnel sound to their ears. When the plunge succeeds, the hunter wriggles out of the snow then carries the prey to a safe spot for eating.” Researchers estimate that 20,000 to 100,000 great grays live in Canada and the U.S., with similar numbers in Europe and Asia.
Photo: Joel Saget/Getty Images
• Hummingbird Glam Shot
With their phenomenal hover and their iridescent feathers, hummingbirds are probably the closest thing we have to fairies on Earth. But those feathers, known as "gorgets," aren't meant to charm people. They're used to attract lady birds—and to threaten intruders. Because hummingbirds spend so much energy in flight, they have to feed on nectar and insects almost all the time, and since they have to eat so much, they're always having to fly. In fact, these birds fly so much that their feet aren't well developed, and they have trouble walking. However, they're such adept fliers that they can do so backwards, up, down, to the side, and, of course, forward. With 338 species, hummingbirds are one of the largest families of birds. While most hummingbird populations are doing fine, 34 range from critically endangered to threatened.
Photo: Kenny P./Getty
Info source: hummingbirdsociety.org and wbu.com
• Playing Defense
While it may look like some strange self-soothing habit this lizard got into when it was young, the truth is that this armadillo girdled lizard is in its defense pose, presenting its spiny backside to a potential attacker while protecting its softer underbelly. Found along the West Coast of Africa, these lizards often live in groups as large as 30 individuals, which is unusual for reptiles. Because of its striking appearance, the armadillo girdled lizard is threatened by illegal pet trade.
Photo: Grundlingh F./SARCA Virtual Museum
Info source: Arkive.org
• Crab Crossing
Christmas Island, known to conservationists as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, is home to anywhere between 50 million and 120 million crabs. Each year, these pinching guys and gals make an annual crawl to the ocean to breed. Problem is, they have to cross several roads to get there, resulting in an estimated 500,000 deaths each season. In 2009, national park officials conjured up a seemingly obvious roadkill remedy—build a land bridge. "What we've got is what we call crab crossings, which are essentially an open-ended cattle grid," said Max Orchard, a ranger, to ABC in 2009. "We found out quite early in the piece that the crabs wouldn't go through a normal culvert system because they think it's a big burrow and there's a big crab at the end that's going to chomp them if they go into this dark hole."
Photo: Courtesy Christmas Island National Park
• Itchy Eyes
A 19-year-old Japanese macaque monkey named Monday—how great is that?!—scratches her eyes while suffering an allergy to pollen from the cedar tree, at Awajishima Monkey Center on March 26, 2012, in Sumoto, Hyogo, Japan. Macaque monkeys are the only animals besides humans and raccoons that wash their food before eating it. Unlike us, they do it for flavor, say scientists—these red-faced critters like the taste of saltwater on their dinner. They are also capable of developing different accents, much like humans.
Photo: Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images
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