The impossibly adorable elephant shrew isn’t an elephant or shrew, but has a relationship to both. For the male mandrill, a colorful face isn’t a fleeting trend: It’s a mating must-have. Mandrillįrom time to time human fashion dictates that a man might want to try a little makeup. Why do we keep thinking they look vaguely familiar? Maybe it’s just this clip from Monty Python’s Meaning of Life that gives us that feeling we’ve seen these guys before. These funky fish protect themselves in numerous ways, one of which are two spines that permanently project out of either side of the base of their tails, which could deliver a nasty injury to a predator. (Related: “ National Aquarium Unveils World’s Largest Reproduction of Indo-Pacific Coral Reef.”) Senior aquarist Jackie Cooper said there can be quite a difference in species, with the whitemargins being a bit more showy, as they are much larger and more colorful and have a longer horn. It’s unknown, as of now, what the horns are for-except to make them totally mesmerizing.Īt Blacktip Reef, the recently opened reef exhibit at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, aquarists keep several species of unicornfish, including two with horns, the bluespine unicornfish ( Naso unicornis) and spotted unicornfish (Naso brevirostris). In adulthood, four of the 18 species of this Indo-Pacific fish, like the whitemargin unicornfish ( Naso annulatus), acquire a hornlike ornament, hence their dreamy name. You know it’s impolite to stare, but it’s hard to help it when you look at the fantastic, funny, and somewhat unsettling unicornfish. But we sniffed out a few Cyranos that might not leap to mind quite as quickly. You know all about the elephant, the star-nosed mole, and the proboscis monkey, whose nose is right there in its name. After falling in love with the newly rediscovered Pinocchio lizard, we thought we’d look up the noses of some other animals with ornate schnozzes.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |