December 26, 2016

Some people are brave enough not to scream when they find a creepy, finger-sized house centipede in their home. However, the sight of a forearm-sized Amazonian giant centipede skittering along the wall would cause nearly anyone to shriek and run away. Growing to about 1 foot (30 centimeters) long, the Amazonian giant centipede is the largest living centipede on Earth. Its segmented body is coppery red to dark maroon in color, and its 42 to 46 legs are red or yellow. It lives in the Amazon rain forest and other tropical forests of South America. Like other centipedes, its body does not retain water very well, so it prefers to spend time in humid, moist places, such as leaf litter, rotten logs, and damp caves.

Amazonian giant centipede (Scolopendra gigantea). Credit: Katka Nemčoková (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

Most centipedes feed on insects and spiders, but the Amazonian giant centipede is so large that it also eats such vertebrates (animals with backbones) as lizards, snakes, mice, birds, and frogs. The massive centipede uses its front legs as sharp claws to catch prey. Once an animal is caught, the centipede delivers a terrible bite with its mandibles (jaw structures) and injects a dose of powerful venom that paralyzes its victim, allowing the creepy hunter to enjoy a fresh meal. The Amazonian giant centipede is even known to hunt bats in their roosting caves. With its back legs anchored onto the cave ceiling, the centipede dangles itself upside-down and waits in the darkness to catch a bat in mid-flight.

For people, a bite from an Amazonian giant centipede is extremely painful and can cause swelling, fever, weakness, and vomiting. Luckily, humans are too big for even the biggest centipedes to eat, so Amazonian giant centipedes do not attack humans unless threatened. In fact, many farmers and gardeners in tropical South America are happy to have these many-legged monsters around, because they help to keep pest populations under control.

December 19, 2016

This Monday’s monster—perhaps more comical than monstrous—gets its name from its rather prominent proboscis (nose). Its scientific name, Nasalis larvatus, means nose mask. In fact, the “schnoz” on the proboscis monkey is the longest and largest of all primates. Among adult males, the average snoot is up to 7 inches (18 centimeters) long. Some male proboscis monkey sniffers are so large that they must be pushed aside in order to eat!

The proboscis monkey gets its name from its prodigious nose. Credit : © Berendje Photography/Shutterstock

Proboscis monkeys don’t seem to resent  “big-nose jokes” told by other primates (including humans, of course). Instead, they seem rather proud of their humongous honkers. Male proboscis monkeys use their giant noses to trumpet loud bellowing noises that warn of predators, shoo away rivals, or even attract mates.

Proboscis monkeys are large monkeys that live only in the swampy forests of Borneo, an island in Indonesia. They feed mainly on leaves, fruits, and flowers. These monkeys also tend to have large stomachs (necessary to digest their leafy diet), giving them an amusing potbellied appearance to go with their super snouts. Adult proboscis monkeys have reddish hair on their heads, backs, shoulders, and thighs, and pale gray hair on the arms and legs. People of Borneo call them bekantan. But some locals on the island jokingly refer to the monkey as an orang belanda (Dutch person) because of its supposed resemblance to overfed colonists of times past. (Indonesia was once part of the Dutch East Indies, a colony created by the Netherlands.)

Zoologists studying proboscis monkeys in the wild have found that females, which lack the distinctive large noses, find the male’s facial appendage rather attractive. Biologists understand that adults of many species prefer mates who display certain behaviors or have certain exaggerated external features. Over time, this process can lead to the evolution of complicated courtship rituals, bright coloring to attract mates, and other unusual physical features (see the sexual selection paragraph in the evolution article). From the female proboscis monkey’s point of view, it seems the bigger the nose, the more attractive the male.

December 12, 2016

This Monday’s monster, the viperfish, possesses one of the most frightening faces in the sea. Its colossal fangs are too large for its mouth, resting outside the mouth when it is closed. Huge, vacant eyes scan the ocean depths illuminated by its own glowing spine, while its long, skinny body creeps through the water. This frightening creature may resemble a classic sea monster, but it is not large at all, and it is no threat to humans.

The viperfish is a deep-sea fish with long fangs in its mouth. In this photograph, a viperfish stalks shrimplike prey. Credit: © Minden Pictures/Masterfile

The viperfish is a type of deep-sea fish with many long fangs in its mouth. It has a long body with black or silver skin. It can reach 14 inches (35 centimeters) long, though most viperfish are smaller. There are several species (kinds) of viperfish, all of the genus Chauliodus.

The viperfish is found throughout the world’s oceans. Most species live at depths from about 650 to 5,000 feet (200 to 1,500 meters). Some species live at even greater depths, down to more than 15,000 feet (4,600 meters).

Two of the fangs on the lower jaw of the viperfish are especially long. These fangs do not fit inside the mouth when it is closed. Instead, they fit into grooves on the head. The lower jaws of the viperfish open up to 180 degrees. Therefore, the viperfish can eat large prey, up to about a quarter of its size. The ability to eat large prey provides a great advantage in the deep sea. In this region, there is little food, and meals may be infrequent.

Viperfish live so deep in the ocean that the sun’s light is reduced to a faint glimmer, if it is visible at all. Some viperfish species swim toward the surface at night to feed. They return to deeper waters during the day. In the inky waters in which it hunts, the viperfish improves its chances of attracting a meal by producing its own light, an ability called bioluminescence. Its dorsal (back) fin has a light-producing organ at the end of a long spine. Prey animals are attracted to the light, thinking it is either a potential food source or a possible mate. When the animal gets close enough, the viperfish strikes. It will eat just about anything that can fit through its gaping jaws, including smaller fish and shrimp.

In the deep-sea realm, the viperfish is a top predator. Other animals, however, such as swordfish and tuna, dive to great depths to hunt and may consume viperfish. These much larger fish don’t seem to mind the viperfish’s terrifying appearance.

December 5, 2016

Imagine going to the zoo and seeing a horselike rhinoceros the size of a small house. It may sound like a fairy tale monster, but Paraceratherium—break it down: para-cera-therium (par uh sehr uh THIHR ee uhm)—was real and it was the largest land mammal that has ever lived. Paraceratherium, which provided inspiration for the gargantuan AT-AT walkers seen in the Star Wars film and entertainment franchise, reached over 16 feet (5 meters) in height. Its skull alone was over 4 feet (1.2 meters) long.

Watch their step: a Paraceratherium herd feeds on a not-so-small leafy tree. Credit: American Museum of Natural History

A prehistoric relative of the modern rhinoceros, Paraceratherium roamed central Asia between 20 and 30 million years ago. It was about 10 feet (3 meters) taller than modern rhinos, and it had no horn. The giant walker had long legs and a long neck to reach leaves in the treetops. Paraceratherium ate vast amounts of plant matter every day to maintain its massive 15-ton (13.6-metric ton) weight. It was so big that even a newborn calf was too much for many large predators to handle, especially with its massive mother lurking protectively nearby. Males had very thick skulls, which they used on each other as clobbering weapons while competing for mating rights with females. The thunderous stomping and skull-crashing during these combats probably warned other creatures to stay far away.

Scientists suspect that Paraceratherium’s cumbersome size led to its demise. Such a gigantic body requires a lot of food fuel and can easily overheat, which is why most modern mammals tend to be small- to medium-sized. Droughts, food shortages, and heat waves would have left Paraceratherium quite vulnerable. Females gave birth to only one calf every few years, so it would have been difficult for these prehistoric giants to keep their population numbers up during tough times.

November 28, 2016

This week’s Monday monster may look oddly familiar. Perhaps you’ve seen a much smaller version of this buglike creature in your backyard on a rotting tree stump or under a rock. Those little critters are commonly called pill bugs, roly polies, sow bugs, or wood lice. But today, meet the giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus)—this roly poly can grow as big as a small dog!

This creepy giant isopod (Bathynomus giganteus) measures a foot (30 centimeters) long! Credit: © Jany Sauvanet, Photo Researchers

The giant isopod stalks the inky darkness of the ocean floor between about 500 feet (150 meters) and more than 7,000 feet (2,100 meters) below the surface. Like its land-dwelling cousin, the pill bug, the giant isopod is actually a crustacean, more similar to animals like shrimp and crabs than insects. Regardless, giant isopods are an intimidating sight, growing as large as 2.5 feet (0.75 meters) in length, with huge compound eyes that glow with reflected light, seven pairs of spiny legs, and two full sets of ravenous jaws. The enormous size of the giant isopod is an example of what biologists call deep sea gigantism. This is the tendency of deep sea creatures to grow much larger than their smaller relatives found in shallow waters or on land.

Giant isopods are mainly concerned with their next meal, wherever and whatever that may be. They have two full pairs of sharp jaws they use to cut and tear into their food. They are deep ocean scavengers that greedily attack and gorge themselves on fish carcasses, decaying plant matter, or even feces (solid waste) that falls to the ocean floor. These are unpredictable sources of food, however, so meals may be few and far between. But these crustaceans have a very slow metabolism, which means they expend little energy and can go a long time without eating. One giant isopod on exhibit at the Public Aquarium in Nagoya, Japan, was especially finicky. It went without eating for five years!

The first giant isopod was collected by Swiss-born scientist Alexander Agassiz after a specimen was dredged up from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in 1879. At that time, most scientists thought the deep ocean was azoic (without life). They did not believe animals could survive in the cold, oxygen-poor darkness hundreds of feet below the surface. Today, scientists know that millions of different organisms live at the bottom of the world’s oceans. Some are even stranger and creepier than the giant isopod!

November 21, 2016

The Asian giant hornet is so large, it is sometimes mistaken for a small bird in flight. This big predator is equipped with piercing jaws, a quarter-inch-long (half-centimeter-long) stinger loaded with deadly venom (poison), and an aggressive disposition. It keeps beekeepers up at night and is responsible for the deaths of dozens of people each year.

The Asian giant hornet is the largest of its kind. Credit: Yasunori Koide (licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)

The Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) is the largest hornet in the world. Workers grow up to 1.75 inches (4.5 centimeters) long, and queens can grow even larger. They are found throughout Japan and Southeast Asia. Asian giant hornets make their nests in the ground or in hollow logs in wooded regions, but they also often venture into urban areas looking for food. These flying insects are extremely aggressive and quick to sting. Asian giant hornet venom is not more dangerous than the venom of other hornets or wasps, but these giants deliver more venom when they sting. And, because of the hornets’ violent swarming behavior, victims are often stung many times at once by many different hornets. Asian giant hornet venom destroys flesh and red blood cells and, if it is delivered in a large enough dose, can lead to cardiac arrest or kidney failure. In Japan alone, Asian giant hornets kill about 40 people and injure some 1,500 others each year.

Asian giant hornets prey on such large insects as beetles and praying mantises. After the victim is stung and killed, adult hornet workers take the insect carcasses back to the nests. There, the dinner is ground up and fed to larvae (young), which in turn produce a nutritious secretion for the workers. Also, adult hornets sometimes feed on tree sap or rotting fruit.

One remarkable behavior of the Asian giant hornet is its tendency to swarm and attack beehives to eat the honey. A scout hornet will locate a beehive and then lead groups of other giant hornets in an attack. The hornets then break into the hive and, using their powerful mandibles, sever the heads of the much smaller bees. Bees cannot sting through the hornets’ thick armor, so they are helpless against such an attack. An Asian giant hornet can kill a honeybee in seconds, so a few dozen hornets can completely destroy an entire hive of thousands of bees in a few hours.

Some kinds of Asian honeybees have developed a defense, however, to stop a hornet invasion before it happens. When an Asian giant hornet scout enters the hive, the bees swarm to it. The hornet may kill the first few defenders, but the bees quickly cover and immobilize (prevent from moving) the invader. Once the bees have trapped the scout, they begin to shiver their wings and bodies, generating heat. The trapped hornet eventually overheats and dies. This strategy costs the lives of many honeybees, both from being killed by the hornet and from overheating themselves. But their sacrifice can save the hive. The hornet scout doesn’t live to reveal the location of the hive, thus preventing an invasion.

Some environmentalists fear that the Asian giant hornet will invade other continents, particularly because of the uncertain effects of global warming. Isolated sightings have already been reported in the United States and Europe. Many of these sightings may be cases of mistaken identity, however, as these areas have their own large species (kinds) of wasps and hornets. Outside the Asian giant hornet’s native range, honeybees have not evolved (developed over time) the swarming behavior to defend against scouts. Non-Asian bees are at great risk, then, from Asian giant hornets. Many bee populations beyond Asia are already severely threatened by changes in land-use patterns and a mysterious disorder that causes bee colonies to collapse. In addition, a class of insecticides called neonicotinoids has already crippled honeybee populations. Invasions of Asian giant hornets could prove the end of honeybees in general.

November 14, 2016

When asked which creature is the floppiest, ugliest, and “blobbiest glob” in the animal kingdom, many people might answer, “the blobfish.” With its beady black eyes, bulbous nose, and dumpy frown, the face of the blobfish is unnervingly similar to that of a gloomy human. Loose, scale-free skin covers its plump, squishy body, which grows to about 1 foot (30 centimeters) in length. It has soft bones and deflates into a saggy wad of pink jelly when removed from the water.

The innocent but remarkable-looking blobfish is threatened by deep-sea trawling, a form of fishing that involves dragging nets along the sea floor. Credit: © Kerryn Parkinson, NORFANZ/Caters News/ZUMA Press

Found only in temperate (mild) waters off southeastern Australia and Tasmania, the blobfish lives at depths ranging from about 2,000 to 4,000 feet (600 to 1,200 meters). At this depth, water pressure is extreme and animals need special body structures in order to avoid being crushed. Closer to the surface, most fish have a swim bladder (gas-filled organ) that keeps them from sinking to the bottom. Such an organ, however, would collapse in the deepest parts of the ocean. Instead, the body of the blobfish is filled with a gelatinous, fatty substance that is less dense than water, allowing it to float just above the ocean floor.

Compared with other fish, the blobfish is a poor swimmer. In fact, it usually chooses not to swim, preferring to lazily hover above the sea floor or “walk” using its large pectoral (side) fins. The blobfish feeds on sea slugs and worms. These may be the only prey too slow to escape the sluggish blobfish. Unfortunately, trawling poses a threat to the blobfish. This form of deep-sea fishing involves dragging nets along the sea floor. Such fishing accidentally catches many blobfish and damages their habitat.

In 2013, the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, a British comedy and conservation group, honored the blobfish with the title of World’s Ugliest Animal. As the society’s mascot, the blobfish reminds people that cute tiger cubs, fair foxes, and pretty peacocks are not the only animals that should be saved from the threat of extinction. Even the homeliest, baggiest, and “blobbiest” of animals deserves to be protected.

November 7, 2016

Under water, the box jellyfish is practically invisible. It is one of the most venomous animals on Earth. It kills more people each year than sharks do. At most, however, it weighs only about 4½ pounds (2 kilograms). This Monster Monday critter packs a lot of pain into a small package.

The sting of a box jellyfish can kill a person within minutes. Credit: © Visual&Written SL/Alamy Images

Chironex fleckeri, called the box jellyfish or sea wasp, is a dangerous stinging jellyfish found in the waters of northern Australia and Oceania. Similar species are also known as box jellyfish and have painful stings, but few are as painful as that of C. fleckeri. The creature has a box-shaped body that reaches about 15 inches (38 centimeters) across. The sea wasp has clusters of tentacles, with up to 15 tentacles in each cluster. The tentacles may reach about 10 feet (3 meters) in length. The tentacles contain billions of tiny capsules, many of which hold a poisoned barb.

Box jellyfish have sophisticated adaptations for active hunting that other jellyfish lack. Unlike other jellyfish, which usually float passively around in the current, the sea wasp swims at speeds of about 4 ½ miles (7 kilometers) per hour. The sea wasp has a whopping 24 eyes. Most of these are very simple sight organs called eyespots that detect light and shadow. But four are complex sight organs that possess corneas, lenses, and retinas. Researchers think sea wasps use these adaptations to spot and track down their prey, which includes shrimp and small fish.

Box jellyfish do not hunt large animals, but they do occasionally run into humans. Because box jellfish are translucent, it is practically impossible for people to see them and avoid them. People are usually stung without warning—an incredibly painful experience—while swimming or wading in the shallows. If the person is in poor health or suffers a bad sting with a large affected area, he or she may experience cardiac arrest and drown before reaching shore. Antivenin can counteract some the effects of stings. But because box jellyfish venom works so quickly, the antivenin must be administered within minutes for it to be of any use. Vinegar can be poured over the site of the sting to neutralize stinging cells that have not yet been activated. If the sting victim survives, the person may experience pain for weeks or even months after the initial contact.

Like other jellyfish, box jellyfish have increased in number and expanded their range in recent years. Scientists link their success to global warming and human damage to ocean environments. Most jellyfish live in warm water, so as climate change warms the oceans, jellyfish territory will slowly expand toward the poles. Overharvesting of the larger animals that usually eat box jellyfish (such as sea turtles) or compete with them for food are allowing jellyfish to spread unchecked. This could be bad news for beach goers everywhere.

October 31, 2016

Halloween trick-or-treaters in the forested Pine Barrens region of New Jersey should be watchful tonight. A beast known as the Jersey Devil is said to roam the area. This monster is commonly described as a creature somewhat resembling a small horse or goat with clawed hooves, batlike wings, fangs, red glowing eyes, and a forked tail. The Jersey Devil is a uniquely American monster that shares its origins with the United States.

Jersey Devil. Credit: Public Domain

The earliest mention of the Jersey Devil in print was in an 1859 article about the Pine Barrens published in the Atlantic Monthly. In 1909, a small-town newspaper in southern New Jersey reported sightings of strange hooflike tracks in the snow. This report led to a surge of sensationally reported sightings and encounters with the creature in nearby towns, and interest in the legend grew. Unlike vampires, werewolves, and other popular monsters of Halloween lore, eyewitness sightings of the Jersey Devil reported in local newspapers remain fairly common, even today.

In the early 1900’s, one museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, even claimed to have captured a live Jersey Devil and placed it on display. The museum actually displayed an unfortunate kangaroo painted with green stripes and affixed with fake wings. Indeed, while many legends of monsters may be based on a kernel of historical fact, historians have documented proof that tales of the Jersey Devil originated with a hoax. Surprisingly, the Jersey Devil hoax may have originated from a feud involving the American patriot Benjamin Franklin!

The American colonist Daniel Leeds (1652-1720) settled in Burlington, West Jersey, in the 1670’s. He published the first almanac in New Jersey in 1687. But the quirky thoughts and ideas Leeds published made him suspicious in the eyes of the local Quaker community, and his books were burned. Leeds became an opponent of the Quaker community, which responded by publicly associating him with devilish forces. His son, Titan, continued the family business of publishing. Sometime after 1733, rival publisher Benjamin Franklin jokingly published in his Poor Richard’s Almanac that Titan had died and become a ghost that haunted the local woods. This was not true, but over the years, supernatural suspicions and gossipy accusations about the Leeds family merged with local Native American tales of evil forest spirits, and the legend of the Jersey Devil was born. The legend continues to this day, and in 1982, the local National Hockey League team (the New Jersey Devils) was named after this imaginary monster.

October 17, 2016

With a buglike face, spidery legs, a remarkably keen sense of smell, and a voracious appetite, the coconut crab (Birgus latro) may just scare you off the beach. A giant relative of the familiar hermit crab, the coconut crab is the largest land crab in the world. From the tip of one leg to the other, it may reach more than 3 feet (1 meter) across, and it may weigh as much as 9 pounds (4 kilograms). Some coconut crabs grow even larger and they may live up to 70 years!

A coconut crab, the largest land crab in the world, feeds on a coconut on the forest floor of the Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the North Pacific Ocean. Credit: © Minden Pictures/Masterfile

The name coconut crab comes from the belief that the crab will climb trees to collect coconuts, but it mostly dines on fallen coconuts. The crab finds food with an extremely well-developed sense of smell and insectlike antennae. The crab uses its strong claws to rip off the husk and crack open hard coconut shells. It is an intelligent and curious explorer known for stealing food or even shoes or other items that people leave outside their homes. (The animal is also known as the robber crab.) Aside from coconuts, coconut crabs eat fruits and seeds, and they are enthusiastic carnivores. They have been reported to feast on rats, chickens, and small sea turtles as well as the dead bodies of larger animals. They even eat other coconut crabs!

Some folktales claim coconut crabs will swarm and overwhelm a human lying on the beach. Legends tell of unfortunate castaways being devoured by coconut crabs after being stranded on remote islands. But coconut crabs are not really dangerous to people. They have been known to surprise people with a sharp pinch, however, and their claws are powerful enough to inflict a painful injury. Experienced island residents say that tickling the soft belly of a coconut crab will quickly cause it to loosen its strong grip.

Luckily, your chances of running into a large coconut crab are pretty slim. The animals live mainly on remote tropical islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Larger coconut crabs are uncommon these days and they are even in danger of becoming extinct on islands where people eat them as a delicacy.