You may be familiar with these animals, but maybe not their range of colours. No need get your eyes checked. Nature's just messing with you.
1. Blue Lobster
Image source: wallz.eu
Approximately 1 in 2 million lobsters is blue. [More information]
2. Purple Squirrel
Image source: loveatfirsttouch.blogspot.com
Percy and Connie Emert of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania [USA] caught a purple squirrel in February, 2012. [More information from: 6abc.com, Wikipedia.]
3. Pink Bottlenose Dolphin
Image source: udalosti.noviny.sk
In 2009, this pink dolphin was discovered in a Louisiana lake [USA]. [More information from: The Guardian, Squidoo, The Fact Site.]
4. All-Black Penguins
Image source: polardiscovery.whoi.edu
Very little is known about all-black penguins because they are extremely rare. [More information from: National Geographic Traveler, Daily Mail.] [Video]
5. Pink Katydid
Image source: bugguide.net
The naturally green katydids become pink due to a condition called erythrism. [More information from: The Ark In Space, Science Blogs, Audubon Nature Institute.]
6. White Peacock
Image source: fanpop.com
This peacock is not an albino; it is a rare white variant of its normally colourful counterpart. [More information from: Treehugger, eHow.] [The White Peacock Blog]
7. Neon Blue Garter Snake
Image source: vabbley
Wild populations of these brightly-coloured fellows exist in San Francisco [USA]. [More information]
8. Pink Turtle
9. White Monarch Butterflies
White Monarch Butterflies are a naturally occurring, but rare variant of the standard orange Monarch. This colour appears in roughly 1% of the Monarch population. [More information from: Monarch Watch | Update.]
10. Purple Corn Snakes
Corn snakes are normally red with orange saddle marks, but there are a variety of corn snake colour morphs ranging from fluorescent orange to purple. Image source: desmond.imageshack.us/via: imageshack.us.
11. Green Sloths
Sloths sometimes appear to be green because their fur is an ideal environment for blue-green algae. Unlike most fur-bearing animals, sloths' fur will absorb water, which encourages algae to grow and impart a green hue. Click here to read more about a Finnish study on the symbiotic relationship between sloths and algae. [More information from: Animal Review, Deoxy.]
12. Yellow Lobsters
Image source: www2.tbo.com
Denny Ingram, pictured above, caught this yellow lobster in Newport, Rhode Island. Approximately 1 in every 30 million lobsters is yellow. [More information]
13. Blue Tree Frogs
Image source: herpfrance.com
Hyla meridionalis, the Mediterranean Tree Frog, and Hyla aborea, the European Tree Frog, are normally bright green. But every once and a while a blue specimen, like the Mediterranean Tree Frog shown above, is born. [More information]
14. Orange Crocodiles
Image source: blogs.discovery.com
In late 2011, Snappy the crocodile surprised his handlers by suddenly turning orange. The reptile experts at the Roaming Reptiles Park in Australia attributed the change to a broken filter; Snappy had attacked it prior to his dramatic colour change, and handlers suspected that iron or tannins in the water were responsible. No harm came to Snappy after he turned orange. Coincidentally, an orange alligator was sighted earlier in 2011. [More information]
15. Pink African Grey Parrots
Image source: newswatch.nationalgeographic.com
Pink patches in African Greys (which, as you might guess, are normally grey) began as a naturally occurring colour morph. Over the years, breeders ended up with 100% pink specimens. The first all-pink Greys sold for over $150,000. [More information]
16. Metallic Green Bees
When we think bees, we think yellow and black stripes. But in reality, bees come in a variety of colours, including red, blue, and green. Bees in the genus Agapostemon are not only green, but shiny. If you can stand the joke: green sweat bees are the shiny Pokémon of the bee world. [More information from: Science Blogs, eol.org, bugguide.net]
Top image: White Peacock
Sources:
[Edited. Some links added.]
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please adhere to proper blog etiquette when posting your comments. This blog owner will exercise his absolution discretion in allowing or rejecting any comments that are deemed seditious, defamatory, libelous, racist, vulgar, insulting, and other remarks that exhibit similar characteristics. If you insist on using anonymous comments, please write your name or other IDs at the end of your message.