Awesome Animal Camouflage Picture

1. A Flounder

 A Flounder

Flounder are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish found at the bottom of coastal lagoons and estuaries of the Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

2. Green frog

A Green frog emerging from the duckweeds in St Omer, France.

3. Grey Cicada

 A Grey Cicada hides on pine bark in France

4. Locust

A Locust mimicks a blade of grass in Burkina Faso.

5. Rock Ptarmigan chick

A Rock Ptarmigan chick in its nest in Norway 

6. Flatfish

Flatfish are masters of animal camouflage. 

7. Crabs

Can you find the crabs camouflaged against the beach sand?

8. Butterfly

The underside of this owl butterfly's wing blends in with woody textures and features a large eyespot to startle predators. 

9.Phylliidae

Leaf insects or walkingleaves from the family Phylliidae are some of the best examples of leaf mimics.

10. Merlet's Scorpionfish

Merlet's Scorpionfish look like colourful coral around the shores of Lifou Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia

11.  Paradoxophyla palmata

Paradoxophyla palmata, a narrow-headed frog native to Madagascar. The frog’s brown and yellow coloring, as well as its rough texture, allow it to blend in with the mud and tree trunks in its environment. 

12. Indonesian Mimic Octopus

The Indonesian Mimic Octopus has a unique ability to turn virtually any color or pattern. It is naturally brown and spotted but has been seen in every hue from ghost white, as shown above, to brilliant blue and fiery red or mysterious pink.

13. Malaysian Orchid Mantis

This Malaysian Orchid Mantis has cleverly adapted to resemble the striking white orchids of the region.

14. Sand flathead

This sand flathead (Platycephalus bassensis) is almost perfectly camouflaged

15. Tarantula

This tarantula hides perfectly next to the flower

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Unique Lamps - Creative Lamp Designed

1. Mary Had a Little Lamp

Lonely in bed at night while you read? Mary Had a Little Lamp is there to help you and keep your bed warm.

2. Sneaker Lamp

Creative lamp designed by Clara Sjodin that looks like a sneaker. The cloth shoe laces are not only accurately scaled, they are the actual power cords for the bulbs found in each sneaker, which helps keep the lamp's design very clean. Would you put a pair up in your house? 

3. Penguins Lamps

Collection of lamps "Save The Penguins" by Alex Kozynets.

4. Fire Lamp

Fire inspired lamp designed by Santiago Sevillano. The body is made of white semitransparent PET rotational molding and inside is LED lighting.The table  lamps are wireless and use a base charge.

5. Book Rest Lamp

Whilst you're all tucked up in bed reading your favorite fairy-tale, horror story or glamour model biography, you can read to the glow of this clever and uncomplicated lamp. Made of frosted glass it gives off a soft light, ideal to read to but also doubles as a book rest ensuring you never lose your page. Designed by Lee Sang Gin.

6. Nymph Lamp

Nymph, as in “the immature form of some insects”, is the name of this odd and cool looking lamp by Site Specific Design – an interiorand furnitureddesign company based in Brooklyn, New York. The price: $2,600.

7. Moon Rock Lamps

Beautiful and original design from the 1960's. Each lamp is handcrafted in Ravenna, Italy, of fiberglass and then coated with a layer of natural Italian stones. Both beautiful and modern, these lamps give any space a natural warm atmosphere. Can be used as ambient lighting on the floor or table top.

8. Memento Lamp

ID Award 2008 Biennial Winning an interior product award. Design by Hiroshi Yoneya and Yumi Masuko.

9.  Martini Lamp

This sophisticated lamp model has an illuminated red pimento.

10. Rocknrolla Lamp

Rocknrolla Luminous - a cone-shaped floor lamp-stand, on top of a hand depicting the character "Rock-in". Scope of home interiors, to public venues. It effectively would look good in the clubs, and on the open park areas, and in shop windows will effectively attract buyers for its originality. Designed by Denis Popenkov. 

11. Ostrich Lamp

Ostrich Lamp lamp was designed by Halde Martin, it is such a simple idea, applying feathers to light and it looks angelic. 

12. Twist Together Lamp

The Twist Together Lamp encourages you to design your own lamp.  Individual blocks connect together and illuminate with a simple twist.

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Inca Rope Bridge - Peru

Inca Rope Bridge - Peru - Inca rope bridges were simple suspension bridges over canyons and gorges (pongos) to provide access for the Inca Empire. Bridges of this type were suitable for use since the Inca people did not use wheeled transport - traffic was limited to pedestrians and livestock.

These bridges were an integral part on the Inca road system and are an example of Inca innovation in engineering. They were frequently used by Chasqui runners delivering messages throughout the Inca Empire.

The Incas used natural fibers found within the local vegetation to build bridges. These fibers were woven together creating a strong enough rope and were reinforced with wood creating a cable floor. Each side was then attached to a pair of stone anchors on each side of the canyon with massive cables of woven grass linking these two pylons together.

Adding to this construction, two additional cables acted as guardrails. The cables which supported the foot-path were reinforced with plaited branches. This multi-structure system made these bridges strong enough to even carry the Spaniards while riding horses after they arrived.

However, these massive bridges were so heavy that they tended to sag in the middle, and this caused them to sway in strong winds. Part of the bridge's strength and reliability came from the fact that each cable was replaced every year by local villagers as part of their mita public service or obligation. In some instances, these local peasants had the sole task of maintaining and repairing these bridges so that the Inca highways or road systems could continue to function. 

The greatest bridges of this kind resided in the Apurimac Canyon along the main road north from Cuzco.

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Most Endangered Species - Bluefin Tuna

 

The Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is a large migratory fish found in the western and eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Bluefin tuna is the source of highest grade sushi. Bluefin tuna fisheries are near collapse and the species at serious risk of extinction if unsustainable fishing practices in the Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean are not stopped.

The Atlantic bluefin tuna is one of the largest, fastest, and most gorgeously colored of all the world’s fishes. Their torpedo-shaped, streamlined bodies are built for speed and endurance. Their coloring—metallic blue on top and shimmering silver-white on the bottom—helps camouflage them from above and below. And their voracious appetite and varied diet pushes their average size to a whopping 6.5 feet (2 meters) in length and 550 pounds (250 kilograms), although much larger specimens are not uncommon. A temporary ban on the global trade of bluefin tuna would allow the overexploited species to recover.

WWF is encouraging restaurants, chefs, retailers, and consumers to stop serving, buying, selling, and eating endangered bluefin tuna until this amazing species shows signs of recovery. Atlantic bluefins are warm-blooded, a rare trait among fish, and are comfortable in the cold waters off Newfoundland and Iceland, as well as the tropical waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mediterranean Sea, where they go each year to spawn. They are among the most ambitiously migratory of all fish, and some tagged specimens have been tracked swimming from North American to European waters several times a year.

Bluefin tuna have been eaten by humans for centuries. However, in the 1970s, demand and prices for large bluefins soared worldwide, particularly in Japan, and commercial fishing operations found new ways to find and catch these sleek giants. As a result, bluefin stocks, especially of large, breeding-age fish, have plummeted, and international conservation efforts have led to curbs on commercial takes. Nevertheless, at least one group says illegal fishing in Europe has pushed the Atlantic bluefin populations there to the brink of extinction. 

 

  

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Most Endangered Species - Magellanic Penguin

Magellanic Penguin Habitat (Spheniscus magellanicus)

Magellanic Penguins are found around the coast line of Chile, Argentina and the Falkland Islands. They spend their time at sea and when they come ashore to breed they form large colonies.

Once threatened primarily by oil spills, Magellanic penguins (Spheniscus magellanicus), now face a larger threat as fish are displaced by warming ocean currents, forcing the birds to swim farther to find food. Last year hundreds of Magellanic penguins washed up on beaches around Rio de Janeiro, many emaciated or dead.

Scientists have speculated that changes in ocean currents or temperatures, which may be related to climate change, could have been responsible for their movement more than a thousand miles north of their traditional nesting area in the southern tip of Argentina. Twelve out of the 17 penguin species are currently experiencing rapid population decline

 

Magellanic Penguin Breeding

Magellanic Penguins breed between September and February and they gather in large nesting colonies. They pair up for life and they construct their nests under bushes or in burrows. Two eggs are laid and they are incubated for 39 - 42 days. Both parents incubate the eggs taking it in turns for 10 - 15 days shifts. Upon hatching the chicks are cared for by both parents for one month and they are fed every 2 - 3 days.

They gain their adult plumage when they are approximately one month old and at 60 - 70 days old they are ready to head out to sea. Magellanic Penguins become sexually mature between 2 and 3 years of age.

Magellanic Penguin Predators

Predators of adult Magellanic Penguins include sea lions and their chicks are preyed upon by kelp gulls and the giant petrel.

Magellanic Penguin Main Characteristics.

Magellanic Penguins are between 70 and 76 cms (28 - 30 inches) in height and they weigh between 4 and 6 kgs (8.8 and 13 lbs). They are coloured black/dark grey on their back and white on their front. They have a distinctive, black, horseshoe shaped band on their front and a thick black band that runs under their chin.

Their tail is short and wedge shaped and they have long, narrow wings that they use like paddles when swimming. They are excellent swimmers and can swim at speeds over 24 km/hr (15 mph).

During periods of warmer weather Magellanic Penguins lose their feathers around their eyes. As the weather becomes colder, their feathers grow back once again.

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