Fauna Fabula: Unreal Animals in the Real World

Jaguarundi

The jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi) or eyra cat is a small wild cat native to southern North America and South America. The jaguarundi has short legs, an elongated body, and a long tail. It has a total length of 21 to 30 inches with the tail taking 12-to-24 inches of that length, and weighs 7.7 to 20.1 pounds. The coat can be either blackish to brownish-grey (grey phase) or foxy red to chestnut (red phase); individuals of both phases can be born in the same litter. The two color phases were once thought to represent two distinct species: the grey one called jaguarundi, and the red one called eyra. The jaguarundi is closely related to the much larger and heavier cougar, having a similar genetic structure and chromosome count. 

Read more about trilobite beetles and larva here!

these are all ladies. 

males look like every other beetle out there, but are the same species. it was a huge mystery for the longest time what the hell a male even looked like, or if there even were males, until they issued a money reward and someone brought in a mating pair. and they couldn’t believe that they were even of the same species because of how different they look.

Dancing in the dark

Spider Geckos, Agamura persica, from Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan

Look at the eyes on the deep sea fish IPNOPS. They’re some of the most modified eyes ever known in a vertebrate. It’s basically lost “eyeballs” in favor of huge, concave lenses, perfect for gathering even the faintest light, possibly used to hunt bioluminescent invertebrates.

I’ve known about these since drawings of them when I was little but I never saw such clear photos of a living one before.

The curl-crested araçari is a species of toucan endemic to the Amazon River Basin notable for the modified, curled feathers on its crown.

Some (box jellies) have eyes too

I haven’t…