because tomblr was taken.

allcreatures:

mabelmoments:

Photo via National History Museum

Vampire Squid From Hell

The Vampire Squid (Vampyroteuthis infernalis, lit. “vampire squid from hell”) is a small, deep-sea cephalopod found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. Unique retractile sensory filaments justify the Vampire Squid’s placement in its own order: Vampyromorphida (formerly Vampyromorpha), though it shares similarities with both squid and octopuses. As a phylogenetic relict it is the only known surviving member of its order, first described and mistakenly identified as an octopus in 1903 by German teuthologist Carl Chun. [continued at wikipedia]

The vampire squid from hell. I love it.

robotindisguise:

gelfling:redsuspenders:

i wish i could post this forever

it’s the simple things we remember most fondly.

lukees:

Marcia Wood Gallery :: Monica Cook

allcreatures:

mabelmoments:

No, this isn’t an animal zombie. But it was.

Shortly before a South American phorid fly larva (not pictured) crawled from this fire ant’s freshly emptied and decapitated head (such as this one in an undated picture), the larva, working from within, had turned the ant into a zombie. Some larvae even compel ants to march to dozens of yards away from their colonies to avoid attack by other fire ants (full story).

It all begins with the mother flies. They hover over fire ants, then inject their eggs into the ants with a needle-like appendage.

The egg grows, and the resulting larva generally migrates to the ant’s head. The larva lives there for weeks—slurping up the brain (more “zombie” ant pictures).

— Photograph courtesy Sanford D. Porter, USDA

ANIMAL “ZOMBIES”: Nature’s “Walking Dead” in Pictures | National Geographic