animals-i-think-are-cool - Tumblr blog

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

little break! small posts! that sort of thing! the winter got me

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 23 (but late) - mangrove snake

these snakes are so pretty!! mildly venomous, you shouldn’t get them as a pet because they’re just cool. please do not get venomous snakes because they’re cool. only get them if you have the appropriate equipment and experience. please.

ok spiel over, i’ve actually been able to hold one of these guys! (without gloves. i am a hypocrite.) they are so pretty it distracts from the potential outcome of getting bit. anyways i chose them because they’re also called boigas and i think that is lovely. boiga boiga boiga boiga

these snakes are colubrids, which means they have a special gland that connects to the rear fangs in order for them to release venom. their specific toxin is called denmotoxin and has evolved to be bird-specific which is super interesting! they have a stable population which is also nice.

rating: 10/10. they are so silly and have such a cute smile. they are so :D

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 22 - guam rail

also known as the ko’ko’ bird, it’s a(n almost) flightless bird that only lives in and around guam. i love this guy! my extended family gave me one as a plushie almost five years ago… they are so cool! it was the second bird to be changed from extinct in the wild to critically endangered due to conservation efforts!

populations decreased rapidly due to the introduction of rats, brown tree snakes, and feral cats. they are very fast but this could not stop the invasive species… :(. they disappeared pretty fast because they had no experience with anything like them. many native guam species are in the same state, most being threatened, extinct, or only in captivity.

they are steadily being brought back! which is very cool because they are such pretty birds. i am the number one snake advocate but it is really such a shame it was introduced and had such a devastating impact on the entire island ecosystem. but that’s not very fun to think about so we have to imagine a regrowing population of native species! go bird go! you can do it!

rating: 10/10. sorry this post is a bit sad but these birds deserve to be saved!!! i love them… they are my countrymen… go bird go

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 21 - horrible spiny lizard

i have beef with whoever named it this. what do you have against this little guy. they are beautiful lizards!! especially the males(? not 100% sure) they have a really nice blue. came for the name stayed for the pretty shiny lizard.

i can barely find any information so this is a short one… so i’m gonna talk about other spiny lizards! they are a very big genus and the greatest variety of species is found in mexico.

they vary a lot in size too, but since most of them are found in warm, deserty areas they are usually pointy and beige. but certain species can change colors according to the time of day! i wish there was a lot more i could put here…

rating: 10/10. i really hope the photos aren’t super edited i want them to just be Like That

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 20 - red octopus

i don’t understand why octopuses have colors in their names. like that’s the whole point. they camouflage. why!!! name them something else!!!! ok pettiness aside this is a cool octopus. they are pretty small but are as sneaky as any other kind of octopus because they can fit through almost any gap in anything. the only “solid” part of them are their beaks, so they can get through anything that has a gap as large as that!

red octopuses can be pretty aggressive! if you mess with it then it Will bite and envenom you, and the healing process can take up to a few weeks. again the moral of the story is don’t touch the wild animals. they can also have very strong personalities! the one i saw at my (hopefully) new job refuses to be fed without playing first. she will spit on you if she doesn’t like you and i think that is so silly.

they can separate snail flesh from their shells! that is horrifying! imagine if there was a smart sneaky camouflaged guy that came up to you and it just got your skin off the skeleton with some chemicals. wow octopuses are so cool. love that guy.

rating: 10/10. i think the world would be drastically different if octopuses had a long lifespan

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 19 - marbled polecat

okay i just picked this because the name is really silly. they look like the leopard gecko of mammals. the name in german translates to little worm! i love you little worm friend. they are so darn cute. they are elusive and solitary, typically being active at dawn or dusk. so mysterious!! they stand out pretty easily but like to hide out.

since they are related to skunks, they can be very stinky when threatened. apparently weasels can do this too. also they have a really big habitat range! they live in southeast europe but can also be found waaay to the east. i wonder why they’re everywhere.

they dig! call them magnus archives episode 88 because they are digging. that’s a deep cut but i don’t care. i think all digging animals are really cool though. like you got some nice claws? cool. you can dig a hole in the ground and also fit in it really well because mustelids did not invest in leg stats. they are very long and short. sort of like my dog

rating: 10/10. why are you so silly? why do you look like that? i love you

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 18 - dwarf lanternshark

this is the smallest species of shark at the size of a human hand! apparently they are in a group called the dogfish sharks and i think that’s very cool. like have you seen those videos of divers petting sharks? they act like dogs. it’s so cute. now we have dog shark. i don’t think that has anything to do with it.

all lantern sharks are capable of producing light! they are GLOWY fish! i love that deep sea animals just decide “oh actually. i think we will all just light up.” it makes the world a better place. in the draft of this i put an all star lyric here but i don’t think that needs to exist.

lots of fish have a tactic of having a lighter colored belly and a darker back—this is to make fish below them see the bright waters and assume they blend in, and vice versa for the fish above it. except this guy just straight up has light. overachiever. i love you guy. they look so goofy.

rating: 10/10. so Weird. looks like hes going to tell me hes neil cicierega on his alt account

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 17 - orchid mantis

this is such a beautiful bug! they look like exactly what you’d expect from the name. though you usually see them as pink in photos, they’re able to camouflage between flowers in a matter of days. they respond to light and humidity! also they can fly and i think that’s really cool. go lil guy go!

they use their disguise not just to hide from potential predators, but also to trick other bugs into landing on them so they can munch on em. but they can eat a lot more than just bugs! like with a lot of other mantis species, the males are probably in constant fear because the females are probably going to kill them. based i think.

the females evolved to be much larger to attract more prey, and the males evolved to do the opposite. they are good at being small and hiding. this was an early discovered case of arthropod dimorphism and it was an interesting find because it had nothing to do with reproductive function! its all about eatin more bugs and i think that’s really cool.

rating: 10/10. they are so beautiful and elegant… i wish i could steal the look

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 16 - grenadiers

yes this was going to happen eventually. eventually is now. this subfamily makes up over 10% of all deep sea fish! it’s very difficult to talk about an entire family of 300 fish in one post so i will just go into the pacific grenadier! they can live very long lives which… is really surprising for a fish. that can’t only be weird to me right.

anyway this guy has big ol eyes that just scream 🥺. they scavenge and they are very slow and weird. also apparently they’re good food but i’m not a seafood guy so it’s not important to me. they take a very long time to grow and can withstand low-oxygen environments and can basically just go wherever they want. nothing matters to this guy. just goes anywhere it wants.

i LOVE how weird they are. look at those eyes that do not fit. they are for something but i can’t find a reliable source with What they are for. it is so weird! this guy is so weird! i love this guy! anyway their name comes from a soldier with grenades in medieval times i think. they had pointy hats and it looks like the fish have pointy hats so here is a grenadier fish! i need these guys to be learned about more.

rating: 10/10. looks at you with my big neurodivergent eyes…

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 15 - mourning gecko

everyone say hi to the lesbian gecko. they are an all-female species that court with each other but reproduce asexually and i think that is super based. they resulted from cross-breeding of other whiptails and somehow evolved to be super cool? how did they do that!

the name mourning gecko is unfortunately rooted in heteronormativity. how, you may ask, when they are literally Lizards. it was assumed that they were “mourning” having no males of the same species which is like. :/. but i believe it’s important to preserve this information because it’s a part of history. at least now we can all laugh about it because it’s really stupid.

they are the state reptile of new mexico, and since they reproduce by themselves they’re all clones of each other. i’m not going to add anything to that. even still they are such complex animals! there are other one-sex whiptail species too. they court each other even though it is not necessary and that is so interesting!

rating: 10/10. if i was a lizard i would be this one… who wants to be a mourning gecko with me,…

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 14 - rhea

at first glance this looks like a slightly smaller ostrich, but it’s a completely different species on a completely different continent! also known as ñandúes in guarani languages, these silly friends love to run around and… get released in europe?

yeah there’s populations of rhea that escaped from facilities in germany and england and they’re holding up pretty well up there. farmers in northern germany think of them as pests because they can cause crop damage, but there are multiple organizations dedicated to keeping this population alive since they’re not invasive. i guess every continent needs a big weird bird.

their populations are stable yet declining because of hunting for their feathers, skins, and meat. there are also organizations for the native populations that are focused on repopulating the rhea in their natural habitat. in sillier news the fathers build for and lay on the eggs, and they may get other males to sit there for them while they go find more females. you tried i guess?

rating: 10/10. i love you big ol weird bird with only three toes.

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 13 - sun bear

(please ignore that i took all day to realize i reblogged something here)

the sun bear is the smallest of all bear species, but it’s still as tall as me. also the name sun bear goes so hard? like you. you are the sun bear. and i think that’s really cool. anyways they’re named for the yellow/orange patches on their chests which are distinct in every bear!

i think they are very polite. they make friendly sounds to each other. the babies make loud sounds for attention. that is so precious. they make beds in the trees. also they have giant tongues. i mean it makes sense because they have to get bugs out of logs but it really scared me when i first saw it…

there is also a moon bear! i think they should hold hands. also, there’s not enough bear species in the world. there’s only 8 isn’t that weird!! like they’re big ol guys. you’d think there’d be a bunch of them everywhere but no! i wish there were more, but with a lot of their populations declining at rapid rates, we might not get that… but anyways i will think about bears. bears are really cute. i love bears

rating: 10/10 LOOK AT THEM!! they look like big friendly dogs. stop being so cute.

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 12 - olm

this guy is weird this guy is freaky this guy is lovely. olms diverged from other evolutions around the same time that birds did! they are ancient and also not related to axolotls. they spend their (VERY long) lives entirely in caves underwater, and yes they do have eyes! they can detect light but not much else.

they are sort of like the tardigrades of european cave dwelling species. it has adapted in case of the possibility that food is scarce, and can live for ten years without any. i would hate to be the guy who ran that experiment. their lifetimes are predicted to range anywhere from sixty to over a hundred years! apparently amphibians can just… do that.

they are oviparous (egg-laying) but this was a big controversy back in the day. they eat and regurgitate salamander larvae, and this was thought to be evidence of an olm being viviparous (live-bearing). i think this has been fully debunked but maybe the little guys will psyche us out.

rating: 10/10. so weird. i want to be just like him. caves are sooo interesting they can have weird stuff just like islands…

(requested by @creppersfunpalooza!)

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 11 - gharial

was trying to find a different crocodilian today but i saw this guy and knew there was no other option. we have big snout day 2. they have big snouts and slide around on their bellies. also males have a big bump on top of their nose that they use for calls and i think it looks like a big ol clown nose! life is best when nature is silly.

these are unfortunately critically endangered due to overfishing and poaching. conservation efforts are funded by zoos! support your probably not so local crocodilians! also all those teeth probably won’t hurt you even if you really tried. they are for catching fish! they are very good swimmers!

they are named gharials because the knobs on the male’s noses resemble a kind of pot called a ghara! also their skeletons look so cool! tell me that doesn’t look super metal because you would be wrong. they eat like seabirds… i wonder if they both evolved with it. they got big ol nose parts with a lot of little teeth and then snatch the fish but not chew it. maybe they’re best friends!!

rating: 10/10. look at him… i want to give him little kisses. the babies are so cute.

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 10 - long-nosed weevil

can’t believe i haven’t done any bug posts yet! weevils are a group of beetles, some of which have big ol snouts. like our friend today! this snoot is not for poking, but instead for chewing. they eat lots of plants and like to burrow in them. get cozy little guy :)

so imagine an elephant. but tiny enough to fit on your hand. and instead of grabbing things with its trunk, the trunk is its mouth. and if you turn it into a bug you get this guy! not all weevils have this adaptation, only true ones. what makes an untrue weevil? …i don’t know.

also there is a different kind of weevil that is memorialized with a statue. i think that’s very cool. more places should do that. more bug statues around the world please?

rating: 10/10 LOOK AT HIS NOSE AND HIS BIG OL EYES!!! SO CUTE!!!!!

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 9 - rusty spotted cat

the tiniest cat in the WORLD!!! but unfortunately it is still a wild animal so you can’t keep it as a pet. they fit in your hand. they’re so beautiful. i wish i could be that little guy…

it and its other small relative, the black-footed cat, are very successful in hunting, which is really interesting. they’re just tiny cats how do they have so much skill in their little tiny brain? cats can be so big and they can be so little. cats are so beautiful.

i am usually dedicated to showcasing animals that don’t fit the usual criteria for ‘cute’ but not this time. anyway here’s what i bet you’re here for:

rating: 10/10 AWWWW KIBBY

(i might post more about them tomorrow because the illnesses left me unable to make a long one today. i should make backups!)

[animals-i-think-are-cool]

jan 8 - sidewinder rattlesnake

like the name suggests, these guys move sideways! i think it’s similar to some sea snakes but that might just be me. it’s thought that they do this because it makes traversing deserts a lot easier, gettin silly on the sand dunes. they are differentiated by other sidewinding snakes by only doing this on sand/another similar substrate.

(wasn’t sure where to put this bit but yes they are rattlesnakes! that means they Are venomous but there’s no need to be afraid of them as long as you stay a safe distance—or, if you’re handling them, wearing proper clothing and using the right equipment. they are beautiful creatures!)

they are a species of least concern (yay!) and are here because they are the fastest snakes on land. they can move at 18 mph, or almost 30 km/h. however, unless you have done something to truly deserve its wrath, it would much rather leave you alone. most snakes do! it’s very unfortunate that snakes get a bad reputation, because while you should obviously be responsible around wild animals, most of em are just scared of people. they are not an active threat! i love animals! they’re all here for a reason!!

anyways snake apologist talk over. juveniles attract prey with their tails, and the moms have a really cool way of keeping warm after havin babies! they all bundle together in a den and block the entrance to make it perfect for shedding. while this would ordinarily be very dangerous temperatures, since they’re always moving it’s regulated. this behavior has not been seen in ANY other snake!!!!

i love snakes. you will probably see a lot of snakes on this blog. honestly i might dedicate a post to just snakebots.

rating: 10/10. look at their lil eyebrows. they’re SO CUTE!!!