Animals & Plants » Around The Interwebs

Mike Libby’s Steampunk Insects

Jan 262011

Mike Libby takes steampunk to a new level with his steampunk insects. He takes dead insects and mounts mechanical parts to them.

Mike started this weird hobby one day when he found an intact dead beetle. He dissected the beetle, trying to see how the bug functioned as a mechanical device. He decided to mount pieces of an old broken wristwatch onto the beetle (Where he got this bright idea from we’ll never know!).

Today, Libby creates different steampunk insects, ranging from beetles & dragonflies to scorpions. He only uses non-endangered species.

Mike’s insect lab can be found at www.insectlabstudio.com

Electric Eel powers Christmas tree

Animals & Plants 1 Response »

Dec 282010

Christmas trees can be quite boring. Unless you really pull up your socks and plan a layout, your tree will just look the same as the thousands of other trees in the neighbourhood.

The Enoshima aquarium in Tokyo managed to add more spark to their tree in a very unconventional way. The tree in the lobby might look the same as any other tree you’ve seen, but the lights are powered by an electric eel in a tank a couple of meters away.

Every time the eel moves, it generates 800 watts of electricity. Two aluminium electrodes inside the tank capture that energy and send it to the Christmas tree.

Weird Taxidermy

Animals & Plants No Responses »

Aug 102010

Taxidermy, aka “stuffed animals” – That weird profession where people take dead animals and mount them for display as hunting trophies or research.

Taxidermy is normally practiced by craftsmen to create the stuffed animals we see in museums, but certain artists take the skill to a new level to create weird and interesting creatures. Many taxidermists do not consider this true taxidermy, and the term “rogue taxidermy” is used to describe this unique art form.

Back in 1798, when the Platypus was first discovered, people thought that the animal was in fact a creation by a rogue taxidermist who took a duck’s beak and sewn it onto the body of a beaver.

The following is four of our favorite weird taxidermy exhibits

Frog eats christmas light and gets illuminated

Animals & Plants No Responses »

Jul 272010

The following photo was sent to the Daily Dozen feature on National Geographic by James Snyder.

“This is a Cuban tree frog on a tree in my backyard in southern Florida. How and why he ate this light is a mystery. It should be noted that at the time I was taking this photo, I thought this frog was dead having cooked himself from the inside. I’m happy to say I was wrong. After a few shots he adjusted his position. So after I was finished shooting him, I pulled the light out of his mouth and he was fine. Actually, I might be crazy but I don’t think he was very happy when I took his light away”

I guess the frog was “delighted” to be chewing on a tasty firefly!

The peculiar pupils of animals

Animals & Plants No Responses »

Jul 272010

Did you know that goats have rectangular pupils? Neither did we! After we received this “fact” via email, we had to investigate.

Slit-shaped pupils are actually found in numerous animals having to feed in a wide range of light levels, like goats and sheep. The narrower pupils allows for higher sensitivity and more accurate depth perception.

Cats, for example, have vertical pupils, allowing them to be more sensitive to the horizontal movement of mice. This unfortunately also makes them less sensitive to vertical movement. You can test this by playing with your cat with a string. If you move the string around on the floor very fast, the cat will be able to follow it. If you suddenly pull the string vertically off the ground, the cat will lose focus of the string.

In goats, the horizontal slits allow them to see better in mountainous environments.