An Eccentric Eel

Check out this crazy cool transparent eel! Called a Leptocephalus, meaning “small head,” it’s almost invisible!

Crocodiles, Real and Imagined Pink

Ever heard of sewer crocs? Stories of them abound, most of them taking place in New York City’s sewers. As the folklore goes, urban families, returning from vacation in Florida, would bring back pet crocs for their children. When the crocs began to large too big for NYC’s tiny apartments, families would flush them down the toilet and the crocs, adept at surviving in watery abodes, would be swept underground to the sewers.

There, they ate rats and rubbish to stay alive, and without any predators, grow to huge proportions. Because the crocs spent the majority of their lives underground, not exposed to sunlight, they eventually lost their eyesight and the pigment in their hide, so that the reptile would grow to be completely albino, pure white in color with pink-red eyes. Many sewer workers claim to have been working underground when suddenly accosted by a massive white crocodile, and have only narrowly escaped – terrifying! Others, however, don’t believe their stories, saying that sewer crocs are more urban legend than real.

Whether or not you believe the hype, one thing is for certain about this story: the albino crocodile. There are only 20 known specimens of this sort of alligator in the world, as they are very sensitive to the wild, making them extremely rare. Because of this, not much is known about them or their behavior. We know that these crocodiles exist in the United States, and also in France, near a radioactive power plant that produces waters warm enough to cradle these fragile species. While we don’t know all that much about these fascinating pink-eyed creatures, we were able to find some photos of them for you – check them out here! And let us know what you think – do you believe that crocs roam the sewers of cities like New York?

If the Sugar Gliders Didn’t Gross You Out, This Will!

We found this video of the Australian Bird Eating Spider the other day, and it far surpassed any previous videos on our “gross” scale. This species are the largest spiders in the world, and have the longest fangs to deliver their poisonous bite. They’re big, hairy, and ugly, and they also have been known to change out of their … ah hem … winter clothes. Confused? Watch the video!

Mean Mutts

This giant three-headed dog is way worse than any mean neighborhood stray. According to Greek and Roman mythology, this creature, called the Cerberus, guarded the gates of the underworld. It allowed no living souls to enter and no dead souls to leave; its name is synonymous with fear and the unknown.

Check out this cool video we found of different artist’s interpretations of the Cerberus!

Cute or Ugly?

Does this video of Sugar Gliders make your cringe, or do they look like furry friends you’d like to play with? Watch the video below and then vote in our poll (to the right)!

Scrambled Stingrays, with a Side of Toast

We all know that birds eat fish, but who’s ever heard of birds eating mongo-sized sized stingrays? None, not even scientists, until recently…

Danny Dolan of Mississippi was out for a walk last week when he noticed a heron struggling to gulp down some large prey. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was, to his surprise,  a stringray; Danny grabbed his camera and took several shots, and, as he later found out, these images are the first-ever scientific evidence that birds eat stingrays

Stingrays are a family—Dasyatidae—related to sharks. They’re named “stingrays” because they have a barbed stinger on their tail, used mainly for self-defense. But get this: the stinger can reach just over a foot, and is covered in a thin layer of skin in which there are venom glands! Yikes! That’s like drinking cobra juice! 

Want to read more? Check out a news article here, and make sure to read up on these fascinating fish in Weird n’ Wild creatures stingray card!

Introducing: Harpies!

Each month we’ll introduce one scary Monsters of the Mind to all you out there who may know lots about nature, but little (yet) about mythology! This month we’re kicking it off with card #47, the Harpy.

The harpies were among the foulest creatures in Greek mythology. These monsters attacked from the air with incredible strength on missions to steal food from people’s mouths, or to snatch up humans and carry them to the underworld; they were cruel and violent. Anywhere the harpies went, a terrible odor lingered. But what did they look like?

In one of the most famous masterpieces of world literature, Dante’s Inferno, we learn of an imagined wood infested with these part vulture, part witch harpies:

Here the repellent harpies make their nests…
They have broad wings, a human neck and face,
Clawed feet and swollen, feathered bellies; they caw
Their lamentations in the eerie tree

So creepy and haunting! So haunting, in fact, that one of meanest looking-birds native to America, the American Harpy Eagle, was named after this mythological animal.

Fingers crossed that you don’t run into either the real or mythological bird!

Aliens – Real or Not? You Decide!

Outer space is a vast region beyond human understanding, and many people believe that other forms of life exist out there. Gray aliens play a role in the most commonly reported encounters, which usually involve kidnapping of Earthlings for use in experiments.

The most famous account of human interaction with aliens dates to 1947, in Roswell, New Mexico. That summer, an alleged Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) crashed into Earth, sparking a huge debate about the existence of aliens. When investigating the Roswell UFO Incident, as it has come to be known, people found evidence of extraterrestrial (meaning, material not belonging to Earth) debris, including aliens.

According to the story’s account, the military reported the crash to the media as an encounter with a UFO, but the day after, higher military personnel retracted that story. They claimed that the wreckage was from a punctured weather balloon, and that it had been mistaken for alien material. Since then, the incident has been the subject of intense controversy that continues today, some believing that the military was covering up what they found, while others dismiss the crash as nonsense.

Read more about these fascinating “Monsters of the Mind” in card #36, and then decide for yourself – Do YOU believe in aliens?

Oh My Hat!

Looking like an undersea alien, the giant octopus is the perfect creature: smart and strong. Whether it’s creeping along the seabed or lying in the shadows of an underwater cave, the octopus is intelligent enough to remember its prey by touch and sight, and can unleash its muscular tentacles in an instant to snatch a meal.

Watch a video of the giant octopus below, and turn to “Monsters of the Deep,” card #2 to learn more!

Fluffy Bunny

Ever play the marshmallow game, “fluffy bunny,” with friends? Well, here’s a real-life bunny with enormous fluff-factor; because of their long, soft fur, the Angora Rabbit resembles something that your cat might have coughed up. But this bunny is no joke – thanks to their luxurious fur, these guys have an enviably exotic, globe-trotting past.

For centuries, the Angora Rabbit was bred by the Turkish. In about 1723, French sailors pulled into a Turkish port called Ankara and were amazed to see women wearing shawls of soft, rich material – unlike any of the rough, scratchy wool so common in France during this time. They asked about the wool and found out that the wool came from the Angora Rabbit. Soon, the sailors were loading armfuls of rabbits in their boats and setting sail for France.

Once in France, the French, in their typically glamorous way, spun Angora fur into high-fashion clothing that they then imported all over the world, but it wasn’t until around the 1900 that there were any Angora Rabbits in the United States. Today, the Angora wool is known as the Rolls Royce of wools.

Want to see this weird n’ wild rabbit in action? Watch the video below!