The Blobfish - Psychrolutes Marcidus

Hello readers, I'm back with more facts about our animal pseudonyms. Next up, the Blobfish!

1. The density of a blobfish’s flesh is slightly less than water’s, allowing it to float underwater without needing to use energy to swim.
2. If it’s taken out of the water, it dries out completely.
3. The blobfish doesn’t hunt, it waits for food particles to float by, then sucks them in.
4. It is inedible and has no predators, but are endangered by overfishing of other deep sea creatures.
5. It has almost no muscles in its body.
6. THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT BLOBFISH ON THE INTERNET
7. OR ANYWHERE ELSE???
8. ?!??
9. !!!
10. !?
11. 

Do you want to see facts about your favourite animal or plant in a future post? Leave a message in the comments!

sources

• http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-blobfish.htm
• i looked in other places and could only find repeats sorry guys

The Glasswing Butterfly - Greta Oto

After a long break of almost two months, I return with 10 (give or take a couple) facts every week about an animal or plant of your choice. I'm going to start with the pseudonyms of this blog's admins. First up, the Glasswing Butterfly!

1. Its name in Spanish is espejitos, meaning “little mirrors”. 
2. It can carry up to 40 times its own weight.
3. The glasswing butterfly lays its eggs on the poisonous nightshade plant, which makes both it and its caterpillars toxic to predators.
4. The alkaloid poisons in a glasswing butterfly are turned into pheromones and used in courtship by male butterflies.
5. Its translucent wings are made by lack of scales rather than translucent scales.
6. As well as feeding on nectar, glasswing butterflies feed on insect-eating birds’ droppings to get amino acids.
7. Its wings allow it to hide from predators, rather than scaring them off like other butterflies do.
8. There are many types of glasswing butterfly, including ones with translucent pink wings.
9. Even though butterflies do not typically migrate, glasswing butterflies do.

Do you want to see facts about your favourite animal or plant in a future post? Leave a message in the comments!

sources

• http://www.secretcritters.com/glasswinged-butterfly/
• http://www.arkinspace.com/2011/07/incredible-glasswing-butterfly.html
• http://aufait.hubpages.com/hub/Glasswing-Butterfly-Including-the-Pink-Glasswing-Butterfly
• http://amazinglist.net/2013/03/translucent-butterflies/

The Emu

Eeeeeemmmmmmuuuuu

Dromaius novaehollandiae

The Emu. Such a glorious creature. Such a charming face.

Or maybe not.

To celebrate my first post in this blog, here are ten facts about this somewhat magnificent bird that you may find interesting*.

1. Emus’ bones and joints are very similar to dinosaurs’.
2. The emu has a knife-like nail on their toes which is used in kicking away predators
3. Emus are the only birds with calf muscles
4. Emus have two sets of eyelids, one for blinking and one to keep the dust out.
5. The first occurrence of genetically identical bird twins was discovered in the emu.
6. More than 600 places in Australia are named after the emu.
7. The name emu is, surprisingly, not an Aboriginal word. It appears to come from an old Arabic word that means "large bird."
8. Emus are the second largest bird in the world after the ostrich.
9. Emus check their droppings for undigested seeds, which they pick out and eat again.
10. The male emu’s call is said to sound like “e-mooooo”.

That’s all for today, I guess. Watching Glasswing Butterfly and Blobfish’s little rivalry unfold entertains me, so I’ll probably be back eventually.

*Then again, you may not.

sources:

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-emu.html

http://www.10-facts-about.com/Emus/id/1024

http://www.findfast.org/facts-about-emus.htm

http://switchzoo.com/profiles/emu.htm

http://www.planetozkids.com/oban/animals/facts-emu.htm

The Emu