t goes without saying that most predatory animals need to open their mouths when they want to stab or bite potential prey items. But, get this, there’s a group of snakes that can erect their teeth and stab prey with a closed mouth. And that’s not all that’s interesting about these snakes. Yes, time for more weird snakes. There are lots and lots and lots of weird snakes, and one of my favourite groups of weird snakes are the atractaspidids (or atractaspids), and in particular the atractaspidid genus Atractaspis. If you haven’t heard of these snakes before it might give you some idea of what they’re like to know that they’ve been variously referred to as mole vipers, burrowing asps, burrowing adders, stiletto snakes or side-stabbing snakes. I’m going to be referring to them as burrowing asps: be prepare to be amazed… Leer más.
The Egyptian Tortoise, Testudo kleinmanni, is listed as ‘Critically Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This Middle Eastern and North African tortoise has a golden-coloured shell and minute shell size of less than 14 cm. Leer más.
In this paper, researchers describe a new technique for tracking snakes that is an alternative to radio-transmitters and thread trails. Leer más.
Los saurópodos son los animales más grandes que han caminado por la superficie terrestre. No obstante, a pesar de su gran tamaño, algunos de ellos poseían un oído interno muy desarrollado, una característica relacionada con la coordinación de los ojos y la cabeza, según demuestra una investigación internacional liderada por el Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). Leer más.
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