Tag: nature

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earthstory:

A large colony of garden eels sway and feed in the gentle currents off Dumaguete Philippines. Garden eels are extremely shy and harmless members of the conger eel family. They live in burrows on the sea floor and are very social creatures that form large colonies. The currents deliver a a continuous passing supply of plankton allowing the eels to feed in the comfort and safety of their sandy home. As our team approached this giant colony they quickly vanished into their burrows as if they never existed. I find these colonies to be hypnotic living gardens in the sea. Thank you to Leandro Blanco for video support. On assignment for @natgeo Philippines, Inside the Coral Triangle.
#DiscoverOcean

If there are fewer eels, they stay further down in the sand with just a couple inches of body poking out. When there’s a huge colony, they have to be Tall because the ones at the edges of the colony pick off most of the low plankton before it can get to the middle one. They prefer not to come out that far because it makes it harder to retreat quickly, but they will if needed. Each one has a burrow that’s deep enough for that entire noodle to vanish completely if disturbed. When pretending to be sea grass doesn’t work, they shoop down into the burrow 

Despite the name, these guys aren’t actually eels. Their face looks more like a goby’s, and they don’t have wide jaws with sharp teeth. 

chalkandwater:

A small Japanese puffer fish is the creator of one of the most spectacular animal-made structures. To impress the female puffer fish, the male labors 24 hours a day for a week to create a pattern in the sand. If the female finds his work satisfactory, she allows him to fertilize her eggs. She then lays them in the middle of the circle, leaving the male to guard the eggs alone.

Life Story (2014)

Source: chalkandwater

Australian birds have weaponized fire because what we really need now is something else to make us afraid

srencon:

gouachevalier:

“The concept of fire-foraging birds is well established. Raptors on at least four continents have been observed for decades on the edge of big flames, waiting out scurrying rodents and reptiles or picking through their barbecued remains.

“What’s new, at least in the academic literature, is the idea that birds might be intentionally spreading fires themselves. If true, the finding suggests that birds, like humans, have learned to use fire as a tool and as a weapon.

“Gosford, a lawyer turned ethno-ornithologist (he studies the relationship between aboriginal peoples and birds), has been chasing the arson hawk story for years. ‘My interest was first piqued by a report in a book published in 1964 by an Aboriginal man called Phillip Roberts in the Roper River area in the Northern Territory, that gave an account of a thing that he’d seen in the bush, a bird picking up a stick from a fire front and carrying it and dropping it on to unburnt grass,’ he told ABC.”

I regret to inform you all that Prometheus is at it again.

Australian birds have weaponized fire because what we really need now is something else to make us afraid