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Take a look at the picture of an ant, above. Yet, this is not a photograph of an ant: it isn’t even a photograph of an ant attacking an insect.  It is in fact the ant-mimicking treehopper (Cyphonia clavata) which keeps itself safe from predators by pretending to be an ant.  What looks like an ant here is actually extension growths on its body - which most other insect species are incapable of creating.

The plan is that any predator looking down will only see what looks like an ant.  The rest of the treehopper’s body will blend in with the foliage. What seems, at first, strange is that the body of the ant is positioned backwards on that of the treehopper. Take a look at the abdomen of the ant and you will see the tiny green eyes of the treehopper.  Why is this?  It is because when it is in defensive mode an ant will move backwards.  In this way, the ant-mimicking treehopper (which can be found in in Middle and South America) has, in fact, got this right too.

Just when you think it’s safe to go back in the garden, the natural world pulls another fast one on us. The picture above is a snail infected with a parasitic flatworm that goes under the (rather menacing) name the green-banded broodsac.  Found mostly in Central and Eastern Europe, its binomial scientific name is Leucochloridium paradoxum which translated means “strange little white-green creature”.  Isn’t that just the understatement of the decade?

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Some might be inclined to exchange paradoxum with nauseosum (nausea inducing) because although it looks strange in a photo, you should see this creature in… motion.  So, if you are even remotely squeamish by nature, don’t read on. And certainly, don’t play this video (definitely not narrated by David Attenborough). Don’t say you weren’t warned…

Spiders have been studied for centuries.  In Middle English the name for spider was coppe and they built coppewebs, a word still retained in the language as cobweb. Yet despite our familiarity with these enigmatic air-breathing arthropods, scientists are still discovering new facts about them – and not necessarily about newly discovered species either.  Here are ten amazing recently discovered facts about spiders.

10. Electrostatic Webs that Suck in Prey
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In 2013 students at the University of California, Berkeley, discovered that the web of the garden spider (or common cross spider) is attracted to charged objects. When a charged object is held next to a garden spider web, its threads arc towards each other. Many insects produce a charge when flying – the honeybee, for example, can generate a charge of up to 200 volts as it moves its wings.  So, if one gets close to a web, the threads arc, effectively sucking the hapless creature in to the web.

We often read about people taking over the natural habitat of other species but it is rare to come across a case where the animals come back and reclaim their territory from us.  Yet this is exactly what has happened in San Francisco.  Local Californian Sea Lions have always been present in the city’s bay but had been pushed out to Seal Rocks, a small formation at the north end of the Ocean Beach.  Pier 39’s K-Dock was developed and opened in 1978.  Little did we know that the sea lions also had their eyes on this particular piece of seaside real estate.

They bided their time but their opportunity to move in (or back, if you argue that their presence along the Californian coastline predates human occupation by tens of thousands of years) came just over a decade later in 1989.  It was then that it was decided that the docks needed refurbishment.  In order to facilitate this all the boats had to be removed from Pier 39.  This left large open spaces inside the Bay.  A small number of sea lions saw their opportunity.  They metaphorically weighed anchor from the stony slopes of Seal Rocks and began to arrive at Pier 39.

Most people have heard of the Ring-tailed Lemur (above) and could suppose that it is the only species. However, there are many varieties of Lemur, a lot of which are beautiful and incredibly rare. Take a look in to the planet of the lemurs and discover for yourself the wonderful diversity of this lesser known family of animals. Image Credit Flickr User Tambako the Jaguar

The Red-ruffed LemurThis exquisitely colored species is critically endangered and part of its habitat in Madagascar has recently been made in to a National Park. This may at least ensure the survival of some of the species but as it is unable to tell where it is safe for itself, many of the animals live outside the park’s boundaries and are still prey to humans as ‘bush food’. Who could possibly bring themselves to eat this delightful animal in the full knowledge that it is nearing extinction?

The gecko is an extraordinary lizard, a triumph of both adaptation and diversity.  Out of the 5,600 species of lizard on the planet, over 1,500 belong to the gecko infraorder called Gekkota.  So, what is so interesting about a line of lizards which is, apparently, so ubiquitous?  Here are 20 interesting facts about the gecko, as well as some amazing pictures of species that you may not have come across before.

Geckos can vary greatly in length.  The smallest (Jaragua sphaero) is tiny, just under two centimeters in length.  However, some species can grow up to 60 centimeters.  The largest ever discovered, the Kawekaweau from New Zealand, is sadly now extinct.

Above
1. Gold Dust Day Gecko - Phelsuma laticauda laticauda
2. Common Leopard Gecko - Eublepharis macularius

No one is quite sure where the name Tanuki came from, but a possibility is the old Japanese word tanoke which means spirit of the fields.  Since people first came to Japan they have lived alongside this remarkable canid species.  Despite what it’s English name might suggest, this is not a racoon.  It is so-called simply because of the physical similarity between it and racoons. It’s a member of the dog family, but it’s definitely not a dog either.  Image Credit

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Why? The tanuki is not a “dog” in the everyday sense (like Canis lupus familiaris, the domestic dog). It’s more closely related to foxes than to domestic dogs, and it has quite different behaviour and appearance. For instance, it can climb trees and even hibernate, which dogs can’t do.

Did you know that the collective noun for pandas is an embarrassment?  So, when you see more than one of them you can say “Oh, look – it’s an embarrassment of pandas”.  Lions get a pride.  Owls get a parliament. And hippos get a thunder.  Meanwhile, pandas get an embarrassment.  (Image Credit)

While there is no doubt that the antics of any family member can leave relatives slack-jawed in bewildered puzzlement, a question must be asked here. Is it fair to condemn a whole species because of the actions of just a few?  At Ark in Space, we think not.  It is time that this gross injustice was exposed, overturned and ended.  Today we begin the search for a new, worthier collective noun for Ailuropoda melanoleuca, otherwise know as the Giant Panda.  You will be able to vote for your current favorite or suggest your own at the end of this article.

And yet. Before we move on, let’s take a moment to acknowledge that yes, pandas in general are somewhat prone to doing things that could be considered embarrassing.  They love climbing, but they aren’t very good at it.  They like rolling down slopes, even if the slope is, in fact, an abyss. They get stuck in awkward places where it might be assumed a panda of average size could not fit.  There is so much evidence stacked against them that panda fail compilations are all over the internet. Here’s just one of them…

When you think of porcupines, you might imagine a spiky little creature having a good old waddle across the forest floor, bristling with quills and grumpy charm. But did you know that some porcupines are expert climbers who spend most of their lives in the treetops? Meet the Coendou genus — a group of tree-dwelling porcupines that swing through the forests of Central and South America like prickly little acrobats.  Did I mention that they’re cute, too?

The Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine (Coendou spinosus) ranges across Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

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