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Meet the Narwhal
This super-bad unicorn of the sea is most closely related to the beluga whale. The unicorn-horn is not a horn at all but a tooth that grows through the top lip. Male narwhals have one overgrown tooth...
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Meet the Arboreal Salamander
There is a recent natural history article in the Journal of Herpetology (click here for the link from D. E. Lee et al., 2012) describing the Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris). The authors have...
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Meet the Texas Blind Salamander
The Texas Blind Salamander (Eurycea rathbuni) is a cave salamander that has adapted to life living in the dark. With extremely underdeveloped eyes, unpigmented skin, and the retention of its juvenile...
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Meet the sexually empowered female Texas Blind Salamander
Courtship and sperm transfer in pygmy salamanders, Desmognathus wrighti. From biocyclopedia.com The Texas Blind Salamander (Eurycea rathbuni) is in the Plethodontidae family, also known as lungless...
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Meet the Margay
Photo credit: http://www.felineconservation.org Please check out the link to donate Shut the front door. Seriously this cat is incredible and adorable. The margay (Leopardus wiedii) is a bit like a...
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Meet the Olm: Salamander Super-Ager
The olm is the only species in the genus Proteus within the Proteidae family (the other genus is Necturus). Olms are cave salamanders found in Southern Europe. Like many other derived groups of...
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Meet the Springtail
Orchesella cincta (Photo by Mvuijlst – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported) Springtails are all around us. Springtails (Collembola) are hexapods but not insects, being members of the...
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Meet the Ping-pong Tree Sponge
The aptly named Ping-pong tree sponge (Chondrocladia lampadiglobus) is a carnivorous sponge. At first glance, you may think “I want that mid-century modern lamp” or “that sponge is adorable”, but the...
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Meet the Tardigrade
Credit: William R. Miller Tardigrade Reference Center Tardigrades are within the Superphylum Ecdysozoa and about 400 species make up the Tardigrada phylum. These 8-legged segmented bits of awesomeness...
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Meet the Flying Fox
There are about 60 species in the genus Pteropus and these bats are known generically as flying foxes. They are typically fruit and nectar fiends and can forage over a 40 miles radius. This seems...
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Get your groove on with the Peacock Spider
Part 1: Part 2: Remix High fives to Jurgen Otto for this work. “Meet the…” is a collaboration between The Finch & Pea and Nature Afield to bring Nature’s amazing creatures into your home.
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Meet the Sunda Flying Lemur
Photo Credit: Norman Lim, National University of Singapore The Sunda Flying Lemur (Galeopterus variegatus) is not a lemur AT ALL (but still a primate). It looks like part eyes-too-far-apart squirrel...
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Meet the Alligator Snapping Turtle
Alligator Snapping Turtle, Photo Credit: Melissa MB Wilkins (CC BY-NC 2.0) The Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macroclemys temmincki) is the largest freshwater turtle. It has a pointed break and a vermiform...
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Meet the Lord Howe Island Stick Insect
Photo credit: Rod Morris http://www.rodmorris.co.nz Dryoceocelus australis lives solely on an island group in Australia. They were thought to be extinct after 1930 until two dozen were spotted again in...
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Meet the Pangolin
The pangolin (Order: Pholidota) is a mammal covered in keratin scales. They can be found in Asia as well as Africa and their size ranges from 1 foot to just over 3 feet. These weirdo cuties eat...
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Meet the Tuatara
“Tuatara, Nga Manu, Waikanae, New Zealand, 15 April 2006″ – Photo: PhilipC, Contrast Enhanced: Samsara (Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic) The tuatara is often referred to as a living fossil...
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Meet the Backwards Butterfly
A few days ago, a colleague of mine was visiting. When I say colleague, I clearly mean friend that is also a biologist, but I like to pretend that we’re not just up all night drinking and talking about...
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Meet the Olinguito
Photo Credit: Mark Gurney The Smithsonian has just released the news that a new species of mammal has been discovered in the Andes. The Olinguito is a member of the raccoon family (Procyonidae) and it...
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Meet the Portugese Man o’ War
“I want to be a Portuguese Man O’ War for Halloween” He asked if I meant a sexy Portuguese Man O’ War because that’s what happens to the majority of girl’s costumes. Uh no, of course I wanted it to be...
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Meet the Caecilians
Yellow-Striped Caecilian, Thailand (Photo Credit: Kerry Matz; CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) There are three orders within the class Amphibia; Anura (frogs and toads), Caudata (salamanders) and Gymnophiona...
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