Post an interesting species Topic

[Gorsalami]

it'd suck if I was born as a mantis



your head being eaten? no thanks

[Mighty Jetters]

I've only seen orchid mantises in Animal Crossing.

[Chutzpar]

You don't get mantises in England at all! Apparently you can find praying mantises in mainland Europe, though. I'm pretty jealous, I think they're adorable x:

[Rosencrantz]

I've seen plenty of praying mantises in my time, those things are such cool insects

I kinda wish I could see them more often though



(and this is saying a lot, considering I'm terrified/disgusted by most kinds of bugs :C )

[Ryan914]

Zebrafish:
The reason as to why it's interesting is that it actually possesses the capability to regenerate by reverting the cells it has around the damaged area to the embryonic state and using them to reconstitute the heart or fin.

What is more interesting is that we humans have the same genes for regeneration as them, but the ones we have are mutated so that only basic healing (platelets) and scarring can occur, the cells do not revert to their embryonic state like the Zebrafish's. However recent medical discoveries have been able to replicate the process artificially through different means.

[Woppet*]

(08-22-2011 02:33 PM)Tachikoma Wrote:  You don't get mantises in England at all! Apparently you can find praying mantises in mainland Europe, though. I'm pretty jealous, I think they're adorable x:

I saw one climbing a palm tree beside the pool when i was in Greece.
It was using it's claw/hand things to climb the tree like ice picks.

[Zabadabenabadaba]

ev·o·lu·tionNoun/ˌevəˈlo͞oSHən/1. The process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.
OK, I already admitted that the turtle was cheap, and then supplied a "real" species, but by definition (above), the two-headed turtle has diversified from earlier forms. I doesn't matter if it is a helpful evolution, it just matters that it happened.
EDIT:
This is a reed frog, they can change genders from female to male.

[mr grumbleguts]

(08-22-2011 06:21 PM)SirZadaben Wrote:  ev·o·lu·tionNoun/ˌevəˈlo͞oSHən/1. The process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.
OK, I already admitted that the turtle was cheap, and then supplied a "real" species, but by definition (above), the two-headed turtle has diversified from earlier forms. I doesn't matter if it is a helpful evolution, it just matters that it happened.

nope
two headed turtle is a mutation (or conjoined turtle twins? but i don't know how that works so i'm going to leave this string alone)
yes, evolution arises due to mutations. Mutations that are more helpful to survival as the mutants and their offspring will survive better in that environment than the original 'species(?i)'

this mutation is unhelpful and doesn't further the development of the species as these mutants (maybe) aren't that competent at surviving long-term

You can't call a one(or how ever many)-off mutation an evolution, if there was a community of twin-headed turtles then yeah, maybe it would be.

edit:

HOATZIN
The young of this unique swamp-dwelling tropical bird have two claws on each wing they can use to clamber around in the branches. They lose the claws as adults though

[Orgasmatron]

(08-22-2011 08:06 AM)Devicho Wrote:  

it looks like he's philophisizing




when my sister and i were much younger she found a decent sized mantis (for these parts) and was holding it and it decided after some time of being held to slice her finger


and her finger just bled one big drop of blood and she cried


: )

[Zabadabenabadaba]

Alright, if it can't reproduce, then I suppose it isn't a new species. However, if it can, then it is. I guess we have to wait and see if it reproduces to tell who won the argument.

[Sol]

Tardigrades (aka Water Bears)

"Tardigrades are able to survive in extreme environments that would kill almost any other animal. Some can survive temperatures of close to absolute zero (−273 °C (−459 °F)), temperatures as high as 151 °C (304 °F), 1,000 times more radiation than other animals, and almost a decade without water. In September 2007, tardigrades were taken into low Earth orbit on the FOTON-M3 mission and for 10 days were exposed to the vacuum of space. After they were returned to Earth, it was discovered that many of them survived and laid eggs that hatched normally." (from wikipedia)



Caracal

There's nothing super crazy about this one, I just think it looks really cool.

more pictures (Click to View)

I had a couple more in mind, like that jellyfish that has potential to be biologically immortal, but I can't remember them and I'm too lazy to go look.

[Kat]

No, there is no argument here, you are just not listening.

HAVING TWO HEADS DOES NOT HELP YOU SURVIVE, THEIRFOR IT IS NOT A BENIFICAL MUTATION AT ALL. IF IT IS NOT A BENIFICAL MUTATION THEN IT IS NOT WORTH PUTTING HERE.

I did feel the caps are nessisary.

Also I'm pretty sure they reproduce with other turtles just fine if their only difference is being an unsplit twin. Human siamese twins can reproduce, but they are not a new speicies of animal now are they?

[Zabadabenabadaba]

I already admitted that it wasn't a worthy post, the debate was over wheather or not it was a new species, and if it can't produce more two-headed turtles, then it is not, if it can, then it is. Human muttations do not necesairily tell us what will happen with turtle muttations, although you are probably right. However, we don't know yet.

[Sol]

(08-22-2011 12:28 PM)Gors Wrote:  it'd suck if I was born as a mantis



your head being eaten? no thanks

[Chutzpar]

(08-22-2011 07:48 PM)SirZadaben Wrote:  I already admitted that it wasn't a worthy post, the debate was over wheather or not it was a new species, and if it can't produce more two-headed turtles, then it is not, if it can, then it is. Human muttations do not necesairily tell us what will happen with turtle muttations, although you are probably right. However, we don't know yet.

Quotin' myself since you missed this part:

A species is defined as a group of animals that will naturally breed together to produce fertile offspring. Variations within that species will not be considered a "new species" unless the mutated forms for whatever reason, stop breeding within the original gene pool.

Like Grumbleguts said; if this was a community of two-headed turtles, you'd be absolutely right. But occasional mutants does not a species make.

Also, yeah, human mutations and how they're passed on do have some bearing on mutations in other animals, because it's all part of the same process. The specifics as to what mutations occur will be different, sure, but there's almost no difference in how those mutations are passed down.

This is all a moot point anyway because multiple heads aren't caused by a genetic mutation, it's caused by monozygotic twins not separating properly.

Can you stop pushing this until you have even a basic understanding of how evolution, speciation and genes work and interact? Thanks.