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[Wiles]

Echidna

Echidnas are small mammals that are covered with coarse hair and spines. Superficially they resemble the anteaters of South America, and other spiny mammals like hedgehogs and porcupines. They have snouts which have the functions of both the mouth and nose. Their snouts are elongated and slender. They have very short, strong limbs with large claws and are powerful diggers. Echidnas have a tiny mouth and a toothless jaw. They feed by tearing open soft logs, anthills and the like, and use their long, sticky tongue which protrudes from their snout to collect their prey. The Short-beaked Echidna's diet consists largely of ants and termites, while the Zaglossus species typically eat worms and insect larvae.
The long-beaked echidnas have tiny spines on their tongues that help capture their meals.
Echidnas and the Platypus are the only egg-laying mammals, known as monotremes. The female lays a single soft-shelled, leathery egg twenty-two days after mating and deposits it directly into her pouch. Hatching takes ten days; the young echidna, called a puggle, then sucks milk from the pores of the two milk patches (monotremes have no nipples) and remains in the pouch for forty-five to fifty-five days, at which time it starts to develop spines. The mother digs a nursery burrow and deposits the puggle, returning every five days to suckle it until it is weaned at seven months.
Male echidnas have a four-headed penis, but only two of the heads are used during mating. The other two heads "shut down" and do not grow in size. The heads used are swapped each time the mammal copulates.[3]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echidna

[woose1]

Holy shit that thing is wierd looking.
Imagine Spanish explorers.
"Mierda que es raro mirar."

[Emperor_Jonathan]

The Spanish didn't explore Australia.

[Sir_Geo]

As far as we know!
On topic: Some of these animals are a bit freaky like the tarsiers. They look so freakin' cute but also freak me out at the same time.

[Duke 2.0]

 I could have taken that description 'till the end of the last paragraph.

 "Oh, hey! It's like a mammal version of a kiwi! And it has a pouch, and... Oh..."

[Tormy]

Socotra Island, Yemen
The Most Alien-Looking Place on Earth?

[IndonesiaWarMinister]

^_^

I've seen that.

Yeah, looks like somewhere on Jupiter, if I could say so...

[Rilder]

^_^

I've seen that.

Yeah, looks like somewhere on Jupiter, if I could say so...

Except for you know.. Jupiter being a Gas giant.

[Duke 2.0]

^_^

I've seen that.

Yeah, looks like somewhere on Jupiter, if I could say so...

Except for you know.. Jupiter being a Gas giant.

Looks like somebody hasn't been to Jupiter yet.

[Akigagak]

The pics look like morrowind.

[Duke 2.0]

The pics look like morrowind.

Nah, looks nothing like Morrowind. There isn't a Cliff Racer in any of those images!

[IndonesiaWarMinister]

^_^

I've seen that.

Yeah, looks like somewhere on Jupiter, if I could say so...

Except for you know.. Jupiter being a Gas giant.

Looks like somebody hasn't been to Jupiter yet.

Ah, sorry, yeah, my head wasn't clear when I post that.
Anyway, I mean is that they seems to came from where gravity is > normal Earth gravity, since those plants (except the first) seems to have most of their mass in the lower part of their body.

From which families do the plants came from?

[Tormy]

Hydrophis Belcheri aka Faint-banded Sea snake, also known as the Belcher's sea snake.
The most toxic snake in the world.



Snake's Description: Hydrophis Belcheri's thin body is usually chrome yellowish in colour and is surrounded by dark greenish bands. Head is short and has same color as that of bands. Its mouth is very small but suitable for aquatic life. Its body when viewed outside water appears having fainted yellow colour.

Snake's Names: Its scientific name 'Hydrophis Belcheri' was given by John Edward Gray in 1849 which commemorates the British Naval officer and explorer Sir Edward Belcher (1799-1877). Hydrophis comes from Greek 'hydro' = water + 'ophis' = serpent, belcheri comes from latin here 'belonging to man named belcher'. It is also referred as Faint Banded Sea Snake and Belcher's Sea Snake.

Snake's Characteristics: Hydrophis Belcheri is a sea snake. The scales of this sea snake is different from other snakes and they overlap each other. Dorsal pattern does not extend on to venter; Hydrophis belcheri scales with a central tubercle. It is highly compressed at the rear of the body and has a short head. Abdominal board is very narrow or non-existent. Like other sea snakes it has a paddle-like tail which make him an expert swimmer, it never go on land, eats fish and shellfish. It breaths air, has valves over its nostrils that close underwater. It can hold its breath for as long as 7 to 8 hours while hunting and even sleeping but then has to come over water surface for a quick breath of air. It is a docile specie and not aggressive at all. It may deliver a provoked bite only after repeated severe treatment. It usually bites fishermen handling nets but (1/4)th of those bitten are envenomated since Belcheri rarely injects any venom. Few milligrams (mg) of Belcheri's myotoxic venom is enough to kill an estimate of more than 1000 people. It's the most venomous specie of snake known to date.

Snake's Length: Hydrophis Belcheri range from 0.5 to 1 metre in length.

Snake's Distribution: It's main habitat is the Ashmore Reef in the Timor Sea off north-western coast of Australia. It is also found in seas of Indonesia and the South Pacific, having been recorded in the Philippines near Visayan and Panay islands, Gulf of Thailand, Sulawesi, New Guinea, Fiji, Kiribati, and the Solomon Islands.

This sea snake is not ranked nor included in my top tens due to its non-terrestrial nature and limited human encounters. Even if it bites it rarely injects any venom, though being most venomous it is not most dangerous at all.

[umiman]

On the subject of venom:



Chironex fleckeri, (commonly known as the "box jellyfish," "marine stinger," or "sea wasp") is a highly venomous jellyfish of the class Cubozoa native to northern Australia. The name "Box Jellyfish" is somewhat misleading; the term box jellyfish technically refers to the entire cubozoan category of which C. fleckeri is only one of about 19 different species.

Chironex fleckeri is best known for its sting. With tentacles covered in a high density of nematocysts and an extremely powerful venom, the box jellyfish's sting causes excruciating pain and is strong enough to kill 60 adult humans in as little as 3 minutes. The box jellyfish is considered the most dangerous jellyfish, the most dangerous among venomous species and one of the most dangerous animals in the world.

Sting:
Chironex fleckeri is best known for its incredibly powerful and often fatal sting. The sting produces excruciating pain accompanied by an intense burning sensation, and the venom has multiple effects attacking the nervous system, heart and skin at the same time. While an appreciable amount of venom (contact from about ten feet or three metres of tentacle) needs to be delivered in order to have a fatal effect on an adult human, the potently neurotoxic venom is extremely quick to act. Fatalities have been observed as little as four minutes after envenomation, notably quicker than any snake, insect or spider; and prompting its description as the world's deadliest venomous animal. Frequently a person swimming who gets stung will have a heart attack or drown before they can even get back to the shore or boat.

[Tormy]

Wheel bug (Arilus cristatus)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_bug


The Wheel bug (Arilus cristatus), in the family Reduviidae, is one of the largest terrestrial true bugs in North America, being up to 1.5 inches, or 38 mm, in length; it is the only member of its genus. A characteristic structure is the wheel-shaped pronotal armour. They are predators upon soft-bodied insects such as caterpillars, japanese beetles, etc., which they pierce with their beak in order to inject salivary fluids that dissolve soft tissue. Because most of their prey are pests, wheel bugs are considered beneficial insects, although they can inflict a painful bite if handled carelessly.

Wheel bugs are common in eastern North America, although many people in the region have never seen them. They are camouflaged and very shy, hiding whenever possible. They have membranous wings, allowing for clumsy, noisy flight which can easily be mistaken for the flight of a large grasshopper. The adult is gray to brownish gray in color and black shortly after molting, but the nymphs (which do not yet have the wheel-shaped structure) have bright red or orange abdomens.