Category: Animal Kingdom

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Animal Kingdom Science & Technology Video Clips

The Fastest Living Thing on the Planet?

In an episode of “Richard Hammond’s Invisible Worlds”, Richard Hammond travels to the English countryside in search of the fastest living thing on the planet. Would it surprise you to know that it lives in piles of horse poop? Be disgusted and/or amazed below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3xXLxIbiXw

If you had some concerns about Hammond’s confusion of speed and acceleration, you may want to read Rhett Allain’s article on Wired, where he uses maths to question Hammond’s claims.

[via The Presurfer]

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Animal Kingdom Awesomeness Inspirational Designs

World’s Smallest Aquarium is Super Cute

Anatoly Konenko is a Russian artist who specializes in miniatures, so much so that he even has Guinness World Record to his name. In 1996, Konenko created a 30-page, 0.9 mm by 0.9 mm book complete with text (and illustrations!), and won the award for the world’s smallest printed book.

Carrying on the theme of microminiature as he has done for 30 years, Konenko has recently created the tiniest of aquariums. Measuring just 30mm wide, 24mm high, and 14 mm deep, the glass tank holds 10 ml of water, plants, stones, and teeny-weeny fish! He uses a itty-bitty net to place the little Zebrafish into their home, and he has even crafted a water purification filter to keep the habitat clean and healthy. You must see images of this adorable little aquarium after the jump.

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Animal Kingdom Awesomeness Photoworthy

All the Beautiful Fishes

The photos from David Hiepler and Fritz Brunier remind me of the Smarties’ slogan, “WotalotIgot!” Through a massive viewing window at the Georgia Aquarium, the photographers give us a spectacular look at the largest aquarium habitat in the world.

The Georgia Aquarium is the largest aquarium in the world, housing over 120,000 sea creatures. It houses four whale sharks, and the aquarium was designed around the 6.3-million-US-gallon whale shark exhibit. Of the aquarium’s six galleries, the Ocean Voyager exhibit contains the most fishes and includes the gentle whale sharks who are named Alice, Norton, Ralph, and Trixie. The photos taken by Hiepler and Brunier are from the viewing window of Ocean Voyager exhibit. See them after the jump.

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Animal Kingdom Arty Awesomeness Featured Science & Technology Weirdness

Amazing Electron Microscope Images

A photomicrograph (or micrograph) is an image that is taken through a microscope, and we’ve covered a few of those on the blog including Nikon’s “Small World” competition, a traveller’s tale in a strange microscopic world, and an incredibly close-up look at insects. If you missed any of those, click here to see them.

North American scientific instruments company, FEI, is in the business of supplying electron microscopes to a various industries and it is the fantastic images taken by their line of scanning electron microscope (or SEM), that we’ll show you today. According FEI, their SEMs can magnify 20 to 1,000,000 times better a light microscope and can be used in tasks that contain long scientific words such as 3D cellular ultrastructure, macromolecular localization, and 3D tissue imaging.  The proof is really in the details. Hit the jump to see some of the FEI’s microscopic images.

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Animal Kingdom Arty Awesomeness Featured Science & Technology

New World Transparent Specimens

Fisherman and artist Iori Tomita turns the process of preserving animals into an art form. Tomita, who studied ichthyology at university, uses a interesting staining method to bring colour to animal carcasses. This is his process as explained by Wired:

Tomita first removes the scales and skin of fish that have been preserved in formaldehyde. Next he soaks the creatures in a stain that dyes the cartilage blue. Tomita uses a digestive enzyme called trypsin, along with a host of other chemicals, to break down the proteins and muscles, halting the process just at the moment they become transparent but before they lose their form. The bones are then stained with red dye, and the brilliant beast is preserved in a jar of glycerin.

The staining process for each creature can take anywhere from five months to a year to be complete. The results are absolutely striking, have a look at some of the see-through creatures in his New World Transparent Specimens series after the jump.

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Animal Kingdom Arty Featured Photoworthy

Beautiful Macro Insect Photos by Leon Baas

If you liked Miroslaw Swietek’s shots of dew-covered insects, you make take a shine to the macro photos by Leon Baas.

The Dutch photographer has always been fascinated by insects, and with the help of books, he taught himself how to take close-up photos. Afters years of experimenting with different lighting methods and equipment, Baas says he has managed to develop a style of this own. Have a look at his some of his wonderful macro insect photos after the jump.

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Animal Kingdom Arty

A Terrific Trio of Time-Lapse Videos

Time-lapse videos are wonderfully hypnotic aren’t they? We quite like them here on Onelargeprawn and if you’re reading this, we’d assume you do to. If post titles are anything to go by, you’d be right in thinking that my attempt at alliteration was terribly bad. You’d also be correct in thinking that with a little bit of googling I’ve dug up a trio of relatively new time-lapse videos (new, as in I’ve not seen them) and laid them out for your viewing pleasure. We have an interesting take on the “photo-a-day” theme, a flowery transformation, and our perennial favourite, the Aurora Borealis. See them after the jump.

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Animal Kingdom Arty Awesomeness Featured Photoworthy

Beautiful Bird Photography by John&Fish

Ornithology…it’s for the birds. John&Fish are a brother and sister team from Taipei City, Taiwan and since 2005, the duo have been keen bird photographers. They travel together, snapping photos of the wonderfully colourful birds that inhabit different areas of their home island. They hope that their photographs look like paintings that inspire people to see the world and nature in a different way. Have a look at their beautiful bird photography after the jump.

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Animal Kingdom Arty Awesomeness Featured

Surreal Photo of the Day

“This has to be ‘shopped!” I said. Digital sorcery, computer jiggery-pokery. But according to Frans Lanting and National Geographic, this is not a painting of camel thorns in the Namib-Naukluft Park, but an actual photograph of camel thorns in the Namib-Naukluft Park, where the backdrop is a dune that happens to be tinted orange by the morning sun. Well played Mr. Lanting, well played.

This image forms part of the feature story “Africa’s Super Park” that will appear in the June issue of National Geographic. See the full image after the jump.

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Animal Kingdom Awesomeness Cautionary Tales Featured Video Clips Weirdness

How to Stop Cats Pissing on Everything

Craig Turner from Perth, Australia is not only a video producer but also a resourceful chap. When a set of nine neighbourhood cats would continually roam into his property and piss all over the place, Turner used his considerable “DIY” skills to create a humane solution to the problem.

By cannibalising his car, a home alarm sensor, and other bits and bobs, Turner produced a deterrent which he dubbed the “Really super awesome cat get awayer thing”. Have a look at the crafty device in action against cats called Ear Off, Blackie Bung Eye, Fatty Fatty Two by Four, Stoopid Cat, and Blackie McLaser Eyes.

[via simondingle on Twitter]