Olm hatchlings aka baby dragons growing up healthy
32 replies, posted
[QUOTE]Postojna, 29 September - The olm hatchlings in the Postojna Cave are growing up healthy and are entering a new phase in their development, turning from larvae to juveniles. "After months of trepidation...the most uncertain development period for newborn olms is over," cave operator Postojnska jama has said.
[/QUOTE]
[url]https://english.sta.si/2308862/baby-dragons-growing-up-healthy[/url]
Any non-paywall sites available for this?
[t]http://www.edgeofexistence.org/edgeblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/DusanJelicOlmblog11-1024x523.jpg[/t]
So this is it.
[QUOTE=purvisdavid1;51128141][t]http://www.edgeofexistence.org/edgeblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/DusanJelicOlmblog11-1024x523.jpg[/t]
So this is it.[/QUOTE]
Looks like a creature you'd fight in a Dark Souls game.
[QUOTE=purvisdavid1;51128141][t]http://www.edgeofexistence.org/edgeblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/DusanJelicOlmblog11-1024x523.jpg[/t]
So this is it.[/QUOTE]
it looks like a penis with arms and gills.
[QUOTE=Kyle902;51128164]it looks like a penis with arms and gills.[/QUOTE]
Ok so I wasn't the only one :v:
You guys have weirdly shaped penises.
Olms are pretty cool. They live for around 60 years, but they're listed as vulnerable because they take around 14 years to become sexually mature and their eggs take nearly half of a year to hatch.
[T]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/P_anguinus-head1.jpg[/T][T]http://www.tampabayreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/baby-olms-salamander-dragons-postojna-cave.jpg[/T]
Are they related to the axolotl? They look like someone took one, stretched it out, and flattened its head.
[t]http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/u/ss/fQYSUbVfts-T7pS2VP2wnKyN8wxywmXtY0-Fwsgxpz6twqwD4YxsOSZbP8nvIRdwtHZd0XNfL4GCI8JsjjDu/[/t]
Now that's a weird ass dildo
[QUOTE=Pascall;51128201]Are they related to the axolotl? They look like someone took one, stretched it out, and flattened its head.[/QUOTE]
Completely different family actually ([URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteidae"]Proteidae[/URL] in the case of olms vs. [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_salamander"]Ambystoma[/URL] for axolotls, same as mole salamanders) so it's really a case of convergent evolution.
[QUOTE=Pascall;51128201]Are they related to the axolotl? They look like someone took one, stretched it out, and flattened its head. [/QUOTE]
Only in the loosest sense of both being classified as salamanders. The only relatives olms have at the family level are the mudpuppies of North America, even though they themselves are from eastern Europe. The reason for the similarity to the Axolotl is that both are neotenized into having external gills as adults, and captive axolotls are usually bred to be albino or leucistic (making them visibly similar to cave salamanders, which lack pigment) rather than their natural greenish brown, such as this:
[T]http://cdn1.arkive.org/media/5C/5C1D86DE-7EC4-4EB3-9BC0-E675283653D2/Presentation.Large/Axolotl.jpg[/T]
[QUOTE=Pascall;51128201]Are they related to the axolotl? They look like someone took one, stretched it out, and flattened its head. [/QUOTE]
They're both amphibian salamanders, so there's that. Except the Olm is still found in its natural habitat(mountain and karst caverns), doesn't leave water, and it never stops looking like a penis.
It also has a more closer-to-human skin than the axolotl so it's commonly known as human fish in the Balkans.
Neat!
[QUOTE=Pascall;51128201]Are they related to the axolotl? They look like someone took one, stretched it out, and flattened its head.
[t]http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/u/ss/fQYSUbVfts-T7pS2VP2wnKyN8wxywmXtY0-Fwsgxpz6twqwD4YxsOSZbP8nvIRdwtHZd0XNfL4GCI8JsjjDu/[/t][/QUOTE]
While they are both in the same order group (salamander), that's pretty much the only thing that does make them related:
Olms are from the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proteidae"]Proteidae family[/URL], that can be found either in NA or the Balkan Peninsula.
Axolotls are from the [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_salamander"]Ambystomatidae family[/URL], found only in NA.
[editline]29th September 2016[/editline]
Oh for FFS
I have learned many things on this day thank you.
[QUOTE=purvisdavid1;51128141][t]http://www.edgeofexistence.org/edgeblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/DusanJelicOlmblog11-1024x523.jpg[/t]
So this is it.[/QUOTE]
Looks like someone stepped on an Axolotl
[QUOTE=purvisdavid1;51128141][t]http://www.edgeofexistence.org/edgeblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/DusanJelicOlmblog11-1024x523.jpg[/t]
So this is it.[/QUOTE]
That's a lizard duck.
Where are it's eyes?
[QUOTE=Makol;51128435]Where are it's eyes?[/QUOTE]
From [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olm"]wiki[/URL]:
[QUOTE]This animal is most notable for its adaptations to a life of complete darkness in its underground habitat. The olm's eyes are undeveloped, leaving it blind, while its other senses, particularly those of smell and hearing, are acutely developed. [/QUOTE]
To further elaborate, cave organisms tend to lack eyes due to two separate factors which, in complete darkness, help provide pressure toward tiny eyes or eyelessness:
without a need for vision, eyes would atrophy, but there is another, more volatile reason. Eyes that are scratched by cave rocks can be infected with lethal results and are vulnerable to parasites, thus when touch is the most important sense, losing features that are lethal to make physical contact with is beneficial. This tends to be the case with creatures like moles as well for similar reasons.
You may ask then "why don't snakes have eyelids, especially ones that burrow underground? Aren't their eyes really vulnerable?". It's simple: they actually [i]do[/i] have eyelids, but they have evolved to be both fused shut and be fully transparent, thus snakes technically see with their eyes closed.
[QUOTE=Spetsnaz95;51128154]Looks like a creature you'd fight in a Dark Souls game.[/QUOTE]
Seth The Eyeless?
[QUOTE=jimbobjoe1234;51128347]That's a lizard duck.[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/f/fe/055Golduck.png/480px-055Golduck.png[/IMG] ?
Is this what you Slovenes call "human fish"?
[QUOTE=chumchum;51128806]Is this what you Slovenes call "human fish"?[/QUOTE]
Yeah, that is how we call it around here too.
They don't look as threatening when seen from head-on.
[img]https://goo.gl/n8zYmK[/img]
[QUOTE=archangel125;51128933]They don't look as threatening when seen from head-on.
[img]https://goo.gl/n8zYmK[/img][/QUOTE]
That's an axolotl
[QUOTE=Exparagus;51128943]That's an axolotl[/QUOTE]
Oh whoops
The black ones are a bit less unsettling because they still have fairly functional eyes.
[t]http://66.media.tumblr.com/680480f02fccfc63f72e5d829d0bbe29/tumblr_o4hrhtj8fL1tic84no1_1280.jpg[/t]
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