Check out these animal species images:
Male Hentzia mitrata Jumping Spider
Image by Thomas Shahan
A new species for me. I had known about this species, but had never photographed one, and as soon as I saw this guy I knew exactly what he was.
Unfortunately, he was missing his front left leg. Regardless of his missing leg, he made his away around pretty well and was still just as difficult to photograph as most spiders. He didn't seem to be impaired in any way.
His chelicerae are almost completely covered in that white hair. The coloring and markings on this species are really attractive.The front arms are enormous like those on Hentzia palmarum (a much more common species around here).
Bryozoans
Image by Roger Smith
I've been seeing a lot of the gelatenous blobs at the Noxubee Refuge lately, and had just assumed that they were some sort of egg cluster.
However, after doing a bit of research, I found that they are bryozoans (most likely Pectinatella magnifica). They are actually colonies of small animals called zooids. Most of the species in this class are marine, but this is one of a small handful of fresh-water species.
Here's a page with more information on them:
www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/bryozoa.html
Bighorn lamb
Image by Alan Vernon.
Observed near the township of Waterton in Waterton - Glacier National park. This young Ovis canadensis is quite well camoflauged against the background.
Two centuries ago, an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million bighorn sheep lived in North America; today, a mere 28,000 remain. Diseases caught from domestic sheep, competition from livestock for forage, and trophy hunting for their horns caused populations to plummet. Bighorns graze in mountain meadows, habitat that is being lost to expanding forests, which are growing beyond their historic boundaries in part because the wildfires that used to hold them in check have been suppressed. Glacier National Park, home to 400 to 600 bighorn sheep, lists the animal as a "species of concern," that is, at risk of becoming endangered.
Reference : www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/phenom-200803.html
Male Hentzia mitrata Jumping Spider
Image by Thomas Shahan
A new species for me. I had known about this species, but had never photographed one, and as soon as I saw this guy I knew exactly what he was.
Unfortunately, he was missing his front left leg. Regardless of his missing leg, he made his away around pretty well and was still just as difficult to photograph as most spiders. He didn't seem to be impaired in any way.
His chelicerae are almost completely covered in that white hair. The coloring and markings on this species are really attractive.The front arms are enormous like those on Hentzia palmarum (a much more common species around here).
Bryozoans
Image by Roger Smith
I've been seeing a lot of the gelatenous blobs at the Noxubee Refuge lately, and had just assumed that they were some sort of egg cluster.
However, after doing a bit of research, I found that they are bryozoans (most likely Pectinatella magnifica). They are actually colonies of small animals called zooids. Most of the species in this class are marine, but this is one of a small handful of fresh-water species.
Here's a page with more information on them:
www.bio.umass.edu/biology/conn.river/bryozoa.html
Bighorn lamb
Image by Alan Vernon.
Observed near the township of Waterton in Waterton - Glacier National park. This young Ovis canadensis is quite well camoflauged against the background.
Two centuries ago, an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million bighorn sheep lived in North America; today, a mere 28,000 remain. Diseases caught from domestic sheep, competition from livestock for forage, and trophy hunting for their horns caused populations to plummet. Bighorns graze in mountain meadows, habitat that is being lost to expanding forests, which are growing beyond their historic boundaries in part because the wildfires that used to hold them in check have been suppressed. Glacier National Park, home to 400 to 600 bighorn sheep, lists the animal as a "species of concern," that is, at risk of becoming endangered.
Reference : www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/phenom-200803.html
