Leptodirus Beetle

(images via: ICSB-2010, Wikipedia France and Petkovanja in Pondelkovanja)

So-called troglobites – not to be confused with troglodites, or cave men – are creatures that have adapted their physical forms to best suit the environment of caves, typically to the point where they cannot survive when removed from said caves. The first troglobite to be described in scientific literature was the Leptodirus beetle (Leptodirus hochenwartii), back in 1832.

(image via: Wikipedia)

Leptodirus beetles average about 4/10 of an inch (1cm) in length and are thought to survive by feeding on the carcasses of deceased cave creatures. Found only in several limestone caves in southeastern Europe’s Dinaric Alps, Leptodirus beetles are considered to be a vulnerable species as their ecological requirements span a very narrow range.

Kauai Cave Wolf Spider

(images via: Earlham College, Animalaqua, Bishop Museum and Dreamstime)

The Kauai Cave Wolf Spider (Adelocosa anops), discovered in 1971, can be found on the Hawaiian island of Kauai and inside five caves where only about two dozen in total are thought to live. The caves were formed between 3.6 and 5.6 million years ago so the spider has had several million years to evolve into its current eyeless state – “anops” means eyeless, by the way. The creature relies upon a finely tuned sense of touch and the ability to note minute vibrations when stalking prey within the volcanic caves’ pitch-black environs. That’s a normal Wolf Spider at above right, compared with A. Anops on the left.

(image via: Red Orbit)

Though biologists and environmentalists may bemoan the exceptional rarity of the Kauai Cave Wolf Spider, spelunkers and arachnophobics (or both) might feel the opposite: this intriguing eyeless spider is quite large, measuring over 3 inches (8cm) across. It’s considered to be harmless to humans, if that’s any help when you’re exploring the deepest depths of a Kauai cave and the battery in your flashlight dies.

Kentucky Cave Shrimp

(images via: USGS and Unusual Kentucky)

The Kentucky Cave Shrimp (Palaemonias ganteri) is one of a number of eyeless and/or sightless troglobite shrimps that have successfully exploited lightless cave environments the world over.

(image via: The Infinite Sphere)

Living mainly in Kentucky’s famed Mammoth Cave and other subterranean caves in the area, the Kentucky Cave Shrimp is considered to be endangered due to above-ground dams and canals that have affected the natural rate of water flow and sedimentation in the Mammoth Cave system. The shrimp, which are both eyeless and transparent, grow to a length of 1.25 inches (3.15cm) and are closely related to other cave-dwelling shrimp found in Texas, Alabama and Florida.

(image via: Ben’s Biz Blog)

The rarity of the Kentucky Cave Shrimp and the fact that its existence is threatened by groundwater pollution has made the shrimp somewhat of a poster-child for environmental activism and a local cause celeb in the area of Mammoth Cave. In 2009, the newly formed Bowling Green baseball club staged a Name The Team contest and although “Hot Rods” was the winning (or at least, chosen) entry, Cave Shrimp received at least some votes. Pity it didn’t win – just imagine the above awesome logo on players’ uniforms.

Blind Cave Crayfish

(images via: USGS, Dayo Scuba and ScienceRay)

Almost 40 different species of Cave Crayfish live in various cave ecosystems scattered across the United States alone. Common to most of these species is eyelessness, lack of pigmentation and very long lifespans – in some cases estimated at over 75 years! Cave Crayfish are among the largest troglobites, reaching lengths of almost 4 inches (10cm).

(image via: Dayo Scuba)

Cave Crayfish have evolved over millions of years to be totally in sync with their exceptionally demanding environment. As such, they can be looked at as “canaries in the coalmine” – environmental indicators as to the health of the pristine, naturally filtered groundwater in which they live.

Blind Cave Crab

(images via: Daily Mail UK, DBS/NUS and Biotagua)

Like many troglobites, Cave Crabs exist in dark, flooded cave environments around the globe. They share a number of common evolutionary adaptations, such as eyelessness and depigmentation that gives them a ghostly appearance – not that anyone (or anything) saw them before humans with lights and cameras invaded their space.

(image via: Biotagua)

Cave Crabs are often found around the inlets where freshwater enters caves, bringing with it food for the opportunistic crabs to eat. The Cave Crab in the topmost image above, Sesarmoides jacobsoni, was discovered in a cave located on the Indonesian island of Java.

Blind Cave Fish

(images via: FOX News, NPS and National Geographic)

The Blind Cave Fish, or Mexican Tetra (Astyanax mexicanus) has evolved from normal Tetra fish that can be found today in the Rio Grande river and other rivers and streams in Mexico and Texas. Growing to about 4 inches (10cm) in length, the Mexican Tetra displays extreme albinism, a semi-transparent skin and most shocking: complete eyelessness. Such traits are shared by the newly discovered blind cave fish Milyeringa veritas (above, lowest photo), a 2-inch (5cm) long eyeless fish found in Australian freshwater aquifers.

(image via: Wikipedia)

Mexican Tetras are one of the only cave-dwelling troglobitic creatures that are not endangered – they can even be bought and maintained as unique aquarium fish! Owners report that though completely blind, Mexican Tetras kept in aquariums use their highly developed non-visual sense organs to avoid bumping into aquarium objects and walls, and

Brazilian Blind Characid

(images via: BBC)

Stygichthys typhlops, a blind relative of the fearsome piranha, may be “the most threatened underground fish species in Brazil” according to ichthyologist Dr. Cristiano Moreira of the Federal University of Sao Paulo. The fish lives in a single, 15.5 mile (25km) long aquifier in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.

(image via: Treehugger)

Villagers drawing water from wells in the town of Jaiba reported seeing strange pale fish swimming in the well. Maybe it’s just me but when you’ve got piranhas in the well it’s time to think about moving, amiright?

Texas Blind Salamander

(images via: Academic.ru, Silverfish Attack and Why Evolution Is True)

The Texas Blind Salamander (Eurycea rathbuni) is an extreme example of eyelessness as an adaptation to low or zero light conditions in underground environments. Growing up to 5 inches (13cm) in length, this rare and unusual creature is found in just one location: the San Marcos Pool of the Edwards Aquifer in Hays, Texas.

(image via: CaliforniaHerps)

Texas Blind Salamanders are amphibians and they lay their eggs in water. They eat snails, amphipods and blind shrimp – a case of the blind eating the blind, pardon the pun.

Olm

(images via: Wikipedia and ScienceBlogs)

The Olm (Proteus anguinus) is the only member of its genus and the only troglobitic vertebrate on the European mainland. Like the Leptodirus beetle, it can be found in the freshwater caves of southeastern Europe’s Dinaric Alps. First described in 1768 but not recognized as a purely cave-dwelling animal, the Olm is known to people in Slovenia and Croatia as the “human fish” due to its pale, pinky coloration.

(images via: Arkive, Oracle ThinkQuest and Posing Facts)

The Olm’s snakelike body averages 8 to 12 inches (20–30 cm) in length with occasional examples reaching 16 inches (40cm). As one of the symbols of Slovenia, the Olm was featured on some of the country’s coins before they switched to the Euro.

(images via: Wired and Nature Manchester)

Though it may superficially resemble the Texas Blind Salamander and like it is completely eyeless, the Olm is a completely different animal. It is neotenic, remaining in the gill-breathing larval stage its entire life (which may be as long as 100 years!). Olms also have 3 toes on the forelimbs but only 2 on their hind limbs. Here’s a short video on the Olm from the acclaimed PBS television program Nature:

Land of the Falling Lakes – Alien Creatures, via PBS

Madagascar Blind Snake

(images via: IO9 and WebEcoist)

The Madagascar Blind Snake (Xenotyphlops mocquardi) is one of 15 different kinds of blind snakes that call Madagascar their home, though Xenotyphlops takes sightlessness to a whole new level. In fact, unless this 10-inch (25cm) long, pencil-thin burrowing reptile opens its mouth – or happens to be in motion – it’s tough to know which end is which. While not eyeless per se, the Madagascar Blind Snake is negatively phototaxic, meaning it avoids light and when brought to the surface immediately tries to burrow back underground. Xenotyphlops and its blind relatives are the only snakes that eat insects exclusively, homing in on ant and termite nests with a highly developed sense of smell.

(image via: MSNBC)

The Madagascar Blind Snake was actually discovered twice: once in 1905 and again one hundred years later after not being seen at all in the interim. It obviously has perfected the art of deception; the genus is believed to have split off from its ancestral line about 155 million years ago when Madagascar was part of the composite Gondwanaland continent.

(image via: Filmcritic)

Some like to think “the eyes have it” but these 10 amazing eyeless animals prove without a doubt there’s more than one way of having it; a way that doesn’t depend on seeing what’s wanted. It’s a vision thing… that doesn’t require actual vision. You see? They don’t, and that’s cool.

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Golden Beetles

(images via: MindCafe, BugGuide and TravelPod)

Certain types of beetles can appear so golden it’s hard to believe they haven’t somehow incorporated 24-carat gold into their gleaming shells! They haven’t – if they did, human treasure hunters would have long since driven them to extinction. Among the most golden of these “gold bugs” are the Golden Scarab Beetle and the Golden Tortoise Beetle.

(images via: Home Schooling Aspergers, Laurie and Matt and Extreme Science)

These insects get their golden appearance using some pretty sophisticated science. The Golden Tortoise Beetle can adjust the moisture content between two layers of its wing covers, resulting in varying levels or golden iridescence as seen by the human eye.

(image via: DK Images)

The Golden Scarab Beetle (Chrysina resplendens) goes even further: its chitinous cuticle reflects circularly polarized light which is “left-handed”. Sounds complicated; looks brilliant!

Golden Jumping Spiders

(images via: Johnbird30 and BugGuide)

Jumping spiders are hunters and ambush predators rather than web-weavers so one would think having a gleaming, metallic exoskeleton would not be in their best interest. Possibly these spiders’ golden appearance is something only human eyes – and not those of its prey – can appreciate.

(image via: Bug Guide)

Jumping spiders are one of the most intelligent spider species and this 1/4-inch long iridescent gold example is one of the most striking in appearance. The rose petal upon which this jewel-like arachnid has set up his or her hunting grounds makes a pleasing contrast with the shimmering iridescent gold of the spider’s exoskeleton.

Golden Monarch Butterfly Chrysalis

(images via: Micro Cosmos, Dave A. eh? and How Stuff Works)

Monarch butterflies are known for their bold orange wings bisected with black veins and contrasting white spots. Their caterpillars, often found grazing on Milkweed plants, are striped with black, white and yellow. It’s only in this majestic creature’s intermediate stage that it chooses to flash its gold: the chrysalis. Oh, uhh, the dude in the chrysalis suit? Gold, pure (comedy) gold.

(images via: Clayruth and About.com)

A Monarch butterfly chrysalis is mainly emerald or jade green in color highlighted by bright metallic gold trim – a horizontal line about 1/3 of the way down and raised golden bumps set apart symmetrically on its lower portion. About 24 hours before the butterfly emerges from the chrysalis, the surface will darken and then turn transparent. Through this process and even after the butterfly has emerged, the golden stripe and spots remain.

Golden Fish

(images via: Smile-O-Smile)

To quote the website copy describing this “truly unbelievable” golden fish, “This is an amazing creation of the Creator. Gold Fish, which was found in the sea in Taiwan was put to display in Taiwan’s Natural Museum.” Okie dokie, I have an open mind and I’m sure you do too… but then: “Scientists have found that some of the parts of this beautiful fish are of 24 carat pure gold.” That noise you heard? That was my mind snapping shut.

(image via: Rojaks)

Seems this particular goldfish, er, gold fish is an animatronic device that may have a creator; just not THE Creator. One can be sure, however, that Koi breeders are actively engaged in producing a truly believable golden ornamental carp. Such a fish might not have 24-carat gold parts but eager buyers would likely pay as if they were.

Golden Poison-Dart Frog

(images via: Jassy World and Bukisa)

There are several different species of Golden Poison Frogs including Phyllobates terribilis, said to be the world’s most poisonous vertebrate. Just how deadly are the alkaloid toxins exuded by these frogs through their skin? Just milligram of the frog’s Batrachotoxin poison is enough to kill approximately 10,000 mice, or 10 to 20 humans, or two African bull elephants – from 1/1,000th of a gram of poison! Another way of stating its toxicity is roughly 15,000 humans killed per gram. “Look but don’t touch” was never so appropriate.

(images via: The Dog Walker, Harunyahya and Know Your Meme)

Golden Poison Frogs are not metallic gold in hue; in fact they can be pale green, various shades of yellow or even bright orange. Where you WILL see metallic gold on frogs (or toads) is in their eyes – the iris’ of many types of common frogs and toads displays a rich, brassy golden tone that contrasts with a midnight black background. Quite beautiful… some might even say, hypnotic.

Gold Tegu Lizard

(images via: Offbeat Pets and Richard Seaman)

The Gold Tegu lizard is a large South American lizard that exploits a similar ecologic niche to that of monitor lizards on other continents. The Gold Tegu’s glossy skin and ornate gold over black striping combine to make it visually very appealing.

(image via: Richard Seaman)

Gold Tegu lizards are popular pets though their feisty nature and hard-to-tame aggressiveness makes them a real handful. Speaking of which, a Gold Tegu can grow rather large – up to 44″ long from tip of the nose to the end of their tails – and unlike other Tegu species they are mainly carnivorous.

Golden Snakes

(images via: Arkive, Steffen und Christina, Eco Terrarium Supply and Polyvore.com)

Several different species of snakes have been graced with the prefix “golden”, including the Golden Tree Snake and the Golden Cat Snake. Most gold-toned snakes live in desert habitats where their coloration helps them blend in with the sandy ground and dry vegetation of arid climes.

(image via: Worth1000)

Now here’s one “rattler” that one wouldn’t mind having coiled close by – it’s one way to un-constrict your finances, at least. I’d say the gilded serpent above was both real and available but then… I’d be speaking with a forked tongue.

Golden Marmoset

(images via: Is America Burning and Purple Slinky)

The Golden Marmoset, or Golden Lion Tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia), is one of the smallest monkeys and also one of the most endangered. It’s estimated only about 1,000 of these primates survive in forested areas of Brazil’s Atlantic coast while another 490 are currently kept in captivity or on protected reserves. It’s estimated that 98 percent of the Golden Marmoset’s original lush rainforest habitat has been destroyed through logging and/or agriculture.

(image via: Uglorable)

The thick, golden fur covering the Golden Marmoset makes it appear larger and heaver than it really is. In actual fact, these New World monkeys only grow up to 13.2 inches (335mm) long and can weight up to 25 ounces (about 700 grams) when fully grown.

Golden Weaver Bird

(images via: Brian Callahan)

The African Golden Weaver (Ploceus subaureus) can be found in eastern and southern Africa roughly from Kenya down to South Africa. These birds can form flocks of many thousands and their teardrop-shaped nests may hang from leaf-stripped savannah trees by the dozens.

(images via: ScienceBlogs and Vijay Barve)

Golden Weaver Birds are not considered to be threatened and indeed, one of their relatives (the Red-billed Quelea) is considered to be the world’s most abundant bird with a population of approximately 1.5 billion. All Weavers are seed-eaters, and flocks sometimes cause African farmers problems when they settle en masse to gorge themselves on mature seed crops.

Golden Bond Girl

(images via: EHV Emmetts and Probert Encyclopaedia)

Our last (but not least) golden creature is of the species Homo Sapien, commonly known as Shirley Eaton, Bond Girl. Eaton played the role of Jill Masterson in the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger. Her claim to fame was her on-screen demise, considered by movie pundits to be one of the top ten film deaths. The crucial scene features Eaton sprawled nude on a bed, her body completely covered in gold. Betty White’s cool and all, but Shirley Eaton is one hot Golden Girl! Here’s a video clip of the notorious (for 1964) scene:

Shirley Eaton as Jill Masterson in Goldfinger (part 3), via Sakieee7

(image via: Screenrush)

The Jill Masterson character supposedly died from “skin suffocation”, a questionable proposition that incidentally was investigated in a memorable episode of the Mythbusters television series. Shirley Eaton was said to suffer no ill effects from her movie makeup though the film’s producers kept a doctor on hand while filming “just in case”. As for Mythbuster’s Adam Savage, his head to toe gold painting also left him none the worse for wear though his pride was somewhat dented.

(image via: Gary L. Todd, Ph.D.)

All that glitters isn’t always gold and what appears to be gold may or may not glitter – then again, animals are animate objects and their golden garb has value much more than that of the metal that has enticed, entranced and blinded humans from time immemorial.

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It’s hard not to be totally captivated by the animal kingdom even when they’re just up to their normal activities. But when animals interact with the human world  in unexpected ways, they have our full attention – whether by crashing a car in search of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, giving us clues to ancient history or even helping us evolve.

Sandwich-Seeking Bear Crashes Car

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The Story family of Colorado got the surprise of their lives in July when the police called at 3:30am to inform them that a bear had taken their teenage son’s car on a joyride down the street before crashing it into some trees, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and proceeding to completely destroy the interior.

“So this bear opened the door on his own. Somehow the door closed behind him. He panicked and started thrashing around, hit the shifter and put the car, took it out of park,” Ralph Story told The Denver Channel. “It rolled back, down over the hill, and down into here, and stopped. The four way flashers were on. It’s like he knew what was going on, and kept hitting the horn.”

Sheriff’s deputies had to tie a rope around the car door handle and open it from afar. Eventually, the bear came out on its own and wandered off into the woods.

Oil Spill Turtles Get Disney Vacation

(image via: usfws/southeast)

For turtles, this year’s voyage to the Gulf of Mexico has been less than successful, with massive amounts of oil making it difficult to survive, let alone procreate. But 32 of the turtles rescued from the Gulf area are getting a treat that is decidedly rare among their kind: a trip to Disney World. Disney’s Animal Kingdom has taken in the turtles to treat and care for them while the spill is cleaned up.

“We actually swim test them, we will look at their general condition, we take body weights, and from there we will actually start a regiment to get them back into healthy condition to be released back into the wild,” Andy Daneault told WDBO Local News.

The turtles, which experienced ill health effects from the spill including abrasions and irritation, will be released back into the Gulf once the spill area is declared fully safe for wildlife.

Beer Bottled in Dead Animals

(image via: msnbc)

Some beer lovers will dish out a lot of dough for a bottle of high-gravity brew – but what makes BrewDog’s bottles clock in at $765 per bottle? Well, taxidermied squirrels and weasels don’t come cheap. The Scottish brewery has bottled its “The End of History” ale in the preserved carcasses of roadkill.

“We were making such a tiny amount that we wanted to do something epic,” BrewDog co-founder James Watt told msnbc.com. “We wanted to challenge people’s perceptions about how beer can be packaged; taxidermy helps open people’s eyes to the fact that beer doesn’t have to be made by a multi-national organization.”

Of course, animal activists aren’t thrilled about the decision, with some calling the packaging “terribly degrading” for the animals.

But bizarre and perhaps vomit-inducing packaging aside, the beer is special too – it’s 55% alcohol, with hints of cinnamon and juniper and the slightest tinge of musty fur.

Cat-Like Crocodile Hunted Dragonflies

(image via: the telegraph)

A newly-discovered ancient reptile seems to have more in common with today’s domesticated cats than with its own descendents, according to scientists studying remains of the “Paksuchus”. A precursor of crocodiles, this bizarre creature lived on land and had mammal-like teeth and a small, short skull.

“At first glance, this croc is trying very hard to be a mammal. Its head would fit in the palm of your hand,” Patrick O’Connor told The Telegraph.
“If you only looked at the teeth, you wouldn’t think this was a crocodile. You would wonder what kind of strange mammal or mammal-like reptile it is. This gives us a number of interesting evolutionary-developmental research questions to begin addressing using living crocodiles as models.”

Giant Jellyfish Attacks 150 People

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How can one jellyfish sting 150 people almost simultaneously? By dying and decomposing into hundreds of tiny pieces. That’s exactly what happened in July at New Hampshire’s Wallis Sands State Park. So many people reported itching and burning that the fire department had to call in backup from five other nearby departments to pick up all the sticky, gelatinous pieces with pitchforks.

The responsible party was a lion’s mane jellyfish, known as one of the largest jellyfish in the world. With bodies that reach 3 feet across and 150 tentacles that can each be as long as 32 feet, this billowy creature wouldn’t have too much trouble harming a lot of people. This species was far outside its usual range in the cooler areas of the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea and North Sea.

“In terms of a large lion’s mane being able to sting so many people, I know from smaller ones say ones that are only 6 inches [15 centimeters] in diameter, those little ones the might have tentacles that are trailing 5 or 10 feet [1.5 to 3 meters] behind them. So if you’ve got one much larger than that you can imagine how long the tentacles could be trailing,” marine biologist Sean Colin told MSNBC.

Dogs, Cats & Cows Helped Humans Evolve

(image via: wikimedia commons)

It may not be too surprising to learn that early humans experienced a huge uptick in intelligence after our formerly vegetarian species began eating brain-enriching meat. But it’s the way in which we managed that – and the role that domesticated animals played – that is truly incredible. Paleoanthropologist Pat Shipman of Penn State University believes that taking in animals and giving them work to do made humans more adept at hunting prey for food.

“On the face of it, you are wasting your resources. So this is a very weird behavior,” Shipman told Discovery News.

But, Shipman says, managing all these animals forced humans to develop tools and technology that spurred growth in other areas as well – like compassion. Humans that were caring enough to keep dogs healthy might have prospered more than others, and passed this compassion down to their offspring.

Rodent Poop the Key to Discovering Ancient Climates

(image via: greencolander)

How much rain did Chile’s Atacama Desert get thousands of years ago? We might never have known, if it weren’t for big pits full of fossilized rodent feces. Paleoecologists at Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile in Santiago believe they can tell just by the size of these poop pellets whether a particular period of history experienced lush rainfall or parched drought.

Ancient rodent latrines – made up of lots of these pellets, cemented together with crystallized urine – provide a trove of data, not just about the animals that excreted the waste, but about the climate of the region. The scientists studied chinchilla waste pits; radio carbon dating provided an approximate age. Other known gauges of approximate rainfall were used to back up the results.

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Living In A World Of Poop

(images via: WIRED.com, Jacob Berkowitz and UCMP Berkeley)

If one considers the number of living creatures who have walked, trod, swam and flown through Life’s billion-year reign, it’s a wonder we’re not up to our eyes in excrement today! Or maybe we are and just don’t know it. When excrement fossilizes, minerals replace the organic matter and to the casual observer the result (a coprolite) is indistinguishable from a rock, stone or pebble. Paleontologists and the rather more specialized Paleoscatologists, however, know turds from treasure when they see them. Sometimes, in fact, the former can be the latter!

(images via: SuperStock and Amazon.com)

Meet Karen Chin, one of the world’s most well-known paleoscatologists – she’ll understand if you don’t want to shake hands. Chin is the curator of paleontology at the University of Colorado Museum in Boulder – no pun intended – and her work with dinosaur coprolites has enlightened us to some important aspects of dinosaur behavior and lifestyles.

(images via: Denver Post, Hanscom Family and Tea Cozy)

For example, Chin noted worm tracks in coprolites that indicated the big beasts were afflicted by worms and other intestinal parasites. She also discovered bones – both whole and crushed – in T Rex’s fossil dung that indicate the dainty-fingered dino wasn’t a dilettante when it came to downing its dinner.

Ex-Stinkers From The Extinct

(images via: NHM and Wyoming Dinosaurs)

Coprolites have been found to have come from all manner of creatures, great and small, fish or fowl, but dinosaur coprolites seem to have inspired the most interest and fascination. Perhaps seeing their poop brings these large, fearsome creatures down to size, so to speak. Maybe it’s just that for most of us excreta is a passing thing – yet these dino dumps appear pretty much “as left” even though they first saw the light of day tens of millions of years ago.

(images via: Fossils For Sale, It’s A Hard Rock Life and Science A2Z)

Paleoscatologists state that coprolites from carnivores are more easily preserved than those from herbivores – a somewhat surprising fact given that some of said plant-eaters were the largest creatures to have ever walked the Earth. Cretaceous carnivores were no lightweights however, and that goes for their dung as well.

(images via: RSM, Prehistoric CSI and Oak Park Journal)

The monster loaf above was thought to have been pinched by a Tyrannosaurus Rex some 65 million years ago, presumably during a commercial break. Discovered in 1995 by Wendy Sloboda of the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, the dino dropping measures 17.6 by 6.4 by 5.2 inches (44 x 16 x 13 cm) and weighs over 15.5 pounds (7 kg).

Mammoth Dung: A BIG Problem

(images via: PPSC, SEAC and Discovery.com)

Mammoths and Mastodons were big, they ate during the bulk of their waking hours – and they ate in bulk, period. What goes in, must come out as the old saying goes, and it’s likely these extinct shaggy pachyderms had a significant impact on their environment. Images of several fossilized “impacts” are shown above.

(image via: Green Diary)

It doesn’t take long (on a geologic scale) for dung to fossilize and in some cases the process is over and done with in just a few hundred years. Not so in the earth’s frozen tundra where generations of Woolly Mammoths roamed for hundreds of thousands of years, doing what Woolly Mammoths do… and doodoo. Some scientists speculate that as global warming heats up the Arctic, dormant microbes in the dung could wake up and go back to work, in the process spewing forth significant amounts of methane. Kinda like letting your dog do his business in the yard all winter and next spring when the snow melts… uh oh.

Regurgitalites: Jurassic Barf

(images via: WordSpy and Karen Carr)

Closely related to coprolites are Regurgitalites, or mineralized vomitus. If that’s not plain enough for you, we’ll call a spade a spade: fossilized vomit. One of the most, er, exciting regurgitalite finds occurred in 2002 when Peter Doyle of the University of Greenwich described a conglomeration of belemnite skeletons believed to have been coughed up by a marine reptile called Ichthyosaurus approximately 160 million years ago.

(images via: New Scientist, Prehistoric World and Tonmo.com)

Belemnites are ancient relatives of squid that had hard, calcified skeletal structures. It’s thought that once a certain number of these shells had accumulated within an ichthyosaur’s stomach, it would vomit them up much the way owls do with indigestible rodent bones. As for the British regurgitalite, Doyle stated that “We believe this is the first time the existence of fossil vomit on a grand scale has been proven beyond reasonable doubt.”

Pseudocoprolites: If It Ain’t Crap, It’s Crap

(images via: WAMS and Wikipedia Japan)

Sometimes what looks like a coprolite is really just a crappy rock. Various geological processes can conspire to create these so-called pseudocoprolites, most involve water and a variety of chemical reactions. Paleontologists and paleoscatologists can determine if a coprolite is the real deal by examining it under a microscope and by treating it with chemical agents. Coprolites of carnivores will have a high calcium phosphate content due to their high bone content.

Ground Sloths: Paleofeces Of The Pleistocene

(images via: NMNH and NHM)

Giant Ground Sloths were once relatively common in North and South America, and were the poster kids of the megafauna. Some species weighed up to 5 tons and stood up to 20 feet tall. Though most giant ground sloths died out thousands of years ago, a few may have survived in Cuba and on some Caribbean islands up until the mid 16th century. These massive creatures liked to make their dens in sheltered caves – those in dry or desert regions contain remarkably preserved samples of their dung.

(images via: Cryptomundo)

These massive creatures died out too recently for their dung to become completely fossilized as coprolites. Instead, what friable droppings remain are described as “paleofeces”. Samples found in Arizona caves have been extremely well preserved, and a cave in Chile was found to contain not only paleofeces but surprisingly fresh-looking sloth skin and hair. The photo above shows the interior of one of the best-known Arizona “sloth caves” with piles of dung scattered across the cave floor – not a candidate for a Good Housekeeping profile. No recent, color photos of the cave exist because a careless human smoker accidentally started a fire in the cave which consumed most of the flammable dung.

Dung Deposit Leaves Ancient Viking Thor

(images via: Guardian UK and York Daily Photo)

Human coprolites? In my bank? It’s not the deposit one normally expects to find but workers digging a new bank vault for Lloyds Bank in York, England back in 1972, found exactly that. At first, the 9-inch (23cm) long object was thought to be a chunk of old refinery slag but upon further investigation it was determined to be a rather large mineralized human excrement over 1,000 years old. According to paleoscatologist Andrew Jones, “This is the most exciting piece of excrement I’ve ever seen. In its own way, it’s as valuable as the Crown Jewels.” No shi-, er, no kidding!

(images via: Jorvik Viking Centre, BBC and Sports Illustrated)

The area of northeastern England including the town of York was under Viking occupation in the 10th century so it’s reasonable to assume the originator was a Viking. The Lloyds Bank Coprolite‘s impressive length and girth led student conservator Gill Snape to comment “Whoever passed it probably hadn’t performed for a few days, shall we say.” This makes sense, what with all the rape, pillage and games against the Packers that kept the Vikings busy. The coprolite is currently on display at the Jorvik Viking Centre in York, which invites you to come face to feces with the Vikings.

Who’s Laughing Now?

(images via: Personal Money Store, Gawker, Odd News Articles and Earth Magazine)

A remarkable discovery in Gladysvale Cave near Johannesburg, South Africa, has extended the age of the oldest found human hair from 9,000 years to over 200,000 years – thanks to the caveman’s ancient nemesis, the hyena. The hairs – about 40 of them – were discovered when coprolites of prehistoric Brown Hyenas were dissolved and analyzed. As the only human (hominid, to be exact) species known to inhabit the area 200,000 years ago was Homo Heidelbergensis, thought to be ancestral to Neanderthal Man, it’s extremely likely the hairs were ingested by a hyena that either killed one of our ancestors or scavenged a predeceased carcass.

When Poop Mines Were Goldmines

(images via: Welcome To Boyton, Factoidz and One Suffolk)

Not the most prestigious address perhaps, but the sign above marks a curious chapter in British history: the Great Coprolite Rush of 1849! It seems that in the early 1840s, coprolites aplenty were discovered in the hills of Suffolk, England. Processing with sulfuric acid released copious amounts of phosphates which were used for fertilizer. Most of the refining took place in the city of Ipswich, where the above street sign is located.

(image via: Suffolk Booklover)

The coprolite industry declined in the 1880s when other, less expensive methods of producing phosphates were discovered but Ipswich holds dear to its unusual claim to fame – and woe be it that anyone call the town a dump.

Polishing A Turd

(images via: Witless Wanderer, Bellerustique, Ken Grant Jewelry and Contrariwise Ramblings)

Who says you can’t polish a turd? Some may be familiar with jewelry made from polished dinosaur bones but coprolite jewelry is also available from the same manufacturers – and is often quite beautiful. Thank the natural process of mineralization for providing the coprolites with such a wide range of contrasting and complementary colors… and thank the dinosaurs for taking time out to produce those gaudy baubles in the first place.

(images via: FOX News and Telegraph UK)

As long as we’re co-opting old expressions, how about “I don’t know whether to sh*t or wind my watch”? Now you can do both… well, sort of, courtesy of the Dinosaur Dung watch from Artya. The Swiss-made timepiece features a polished coprolite face sourced from a herbivorous dinosaur’s dung dropped 100 million years ago. A bronze casing chosen to match the “warm and matchless tints” of dinosaur dung and a strap made from American Cane Toad skin completes this piece of… art? All for only $11,900.

(images via: BoingBoing and EW.com)

Whew, I need a break, and not that kind of break if you know what I mean. Writing about poop can leave one feeling flushed, pooped even, but it does stimulate some speculation such as: how appropriate it is that remains… remain? Coprolites offer us a unique way to get down & dirty with the daily details of ancient life – without all the actual down & dirtyness working with fresh pre-coprolites entrails. I mean entails. That’s it, I’m outta here.

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Island life isn’t all sandy beaches and coconuts. Sometimes, it’s rough, with very little food or freshwater available, and if you can’t get off the island, you’d better adapt. That’s exactly what these 12 miniature species did over thousands of years due to scarcity of resources, eventually becoming smaller versions of their mainland relatives. They’re not all insanely adorable tiny animals that melt us into big piles of fawning goo, but they are fascinating, rare, and all too often endangered or extinct.

Little People of Flores

(images via: wikipedia, science daily)

Could a tiny sub-species of in the genus Homo have co-existed in Indonesia with humans as recent as 12,000 years ago? First dubbed a “hobbit-like human ancestor”, it was soon discovered that Homo floresiensis was in fact its own species, standing just three feet tall, about the height of a modern human toddler. Nine skeletons were found in Flores, Indonesia in 2003 and have been studied extensively since then, with some scientists still arguing that they are actually deformed Homo sapiens. The team that discovered H. floresiensis believe the species is an example of insular dwarfism, with their growth restricted by a limited choice of food on the island.

Pygmy Three-Toed Sloth

(image via: bbc news)

When it comes to sloths, opinions tend to be radically divided: some people think they’re adorable, while others find them absolutely terrifying. But the critically endangered pygmy three-toed sloth, found only on the tiny island of Isla Escudo de Veraguas near Panama, is a miniature version of its mainland relatives, and is especially cute when swimming – it almost looks like a fuzzy turtle!

Channel Islands Pygmy Mammoth

(image via: wikipedia)

When you hear the word “mammoth”, you think of something epically huge. Not that the Channel Islands Pygmy Mammoth was a dainty little creature at 2,000 pounds, but it would still have been easily dwarfed by its 20,000-pound ancestor, the Columbian Mammoth. Remains of this species, which evolved to fit within the ecosystem of the now mostly-submerged Santa Rosae island off the coast of California, were first discovered in 1856.

Dwarf Elephants

(images via: wikipedia)

Unlike today’s pygmy elephants, which are subspecies of their own, prehistoric dwarf elephants evolved to be much smaller than modern elephants due to their insularity on islands around the world including Crete, Cyprus, Timor and the same island of Flores, Indonesia where pygmy human relatives were found. And unlike prehistoric dwarf mammoths, dwarf elephants really were small: the Cyprus dwarf elephant likely weighed around 440 pounds.

Channel Islands Fox

(image via: just chaos)

Aww, isn’t that a cute little kitten… oh… wait. It’s not a kitten at all. The Channel Islands Fox first evolved from the Gray Fox when they “rafted” over to the islands off the coast of California over 10,000 years ago and were faced with limited resources. They’re easy prey for eagles, being smaller than domestic house cats, and also highly susceptible to parasites and diseases brought over from the mainland.

Pygmy Hippo

(image via: soham pablo)

Pygmy hippos are about the same size as pigs – though technically, hippos are more closely related to whales and dolphins than to any of their fellow land animals. Semi-aquatic vegetarians, these miniature mammals are difficult to study because they’re nocturnal and very shy. Only about 3,000 remain in the wild, mostly in Liberia.

Bali Tiger

(image via: wikipedia)

The Bali Tiger may have been more comparable in size to leopards than to other tiger subspecies, but they were no less fierce. Sadly, these animals disappeared by the middle of the 20th century, though scientists believe there were never very many of them in the first place. These dwarf tigers were found exclusively on the island of Bali where they were hunted to extinction due to perceived threats and also the desire for jewelry made from their teeth and claws.

Cozumel Island Raccoon

(image via: animalesextincion.es)

Weighing just about 8-9 pounds, Cozumel Island racoons look exactly like their mainland relatives except for their diminutive size, the black bands on their throats and their golden yellow tails. They live on Cozumel Island off the coast of the Yucutan Peninsula in Mexico, and less than 300 remain. The Dwarf Coati, a relative of the raccoon, and a species of dwarf gray fox are also found on the island.

Balearic Island Cave Goat

(image via: mongabay)

The extinct Balearic Island Cave Goat wasn’t just a shorty at only 19.5” tall – its isolation on the rocky, nutrient-poor islands in the Mediterranean caused it to develop some even more unusual characteristics. Like crocodiles, this goat was able to grow at flexible rates, halting the growth process when food was unavailable. As far as scientists know, this goat was the only mammal ever to adapt in this way, and it probably helped the goat survive for five million years before being driven into extinction by human hunters.

Mindoro Dwarf Buffalo

(image via: edmond valerio)

There are so few Mindoro Dwarf Buffalo left, it’s rare for anyone to spot more than a solitary individual. Originally found all over the island of Mindoro in the Philippines, its range has been dramatically reduced by human civilization, hunting and logging. In fact, sightings of this mini water buffalo are so unusual that scientists know very little about its ecology. After being declared a critically endangered species, the Mindoro buffalo population has experienced a slight but very encouraging uptick.

Bernissartia – Tiny Crocodiles

(image via: wikimedia commons)

Imagine a cute “baby” crocodile that never grows up. That’s basically what Bernissartia, a prehistoric reptile from the Early Cretacious period around 130 million years ago, would seem like to us. Smaller than a house cat, Bernissartia looked just like modern-day crocodiles but had jaws more suited to catching fish than dragging a full-grown man underwater. It would have stood at sharp contrast to the nightmarishly enormous crocs of the day, like Sarcosuchus.

Key Deer

(image via: wikimedia commons)

Key Deer may not be around too much longer. Native only to the Florida Keys, this offshoot of white-tailed deer tops out at about 75 pounds and the antlers of males bear a signature white, velvety coating. Because of human encroachment, their habitat has been shrunken to a handful of lesser populated keys, and they swim from one island to another in search of fresh water.

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