EDGE Amphibians: World's Weirdest Creatures Just Got Weirder

Science Daily ^ | 1-25-2008 | Zoological Society of London.

[Alas Babylon!]

Dude, you know that one pictured is ALREADY lunch.

Look, it’s from China. It looks like a Chinese chef has a holt of it and they’re already in the kitchen. Is that a wok handle I see in the back ground?

That salamander made a lot of chop suey. Or Kung Po Salamader, or Schezuan salamander, or, well, you know!

[Redcloak]

They probably taste horrible; otherwise, the Chinese would have eaten them into extinction by now!

[Eaker]

You catch it, kill it and I’ll grill it!

[null and void]

Jalepeno Hoppers.

LOL! That's great!

[Ramius]

I wouldn’t infer anything of the sort.

Its not about what, but how and why. I’d like to ask about those things someday.

[From many - one.]

“90% of the species that ever lived are gone without leaving their gene info. Maybe even more. It’s a good thing. But also, 99% of their gene info is still here in the still living species.”

Not the point. These are nifty critters and at least one of my granddkids, no, make that two, would get a real kick out of seeing them. I suspect the same is true for others.

[wideminded]

It’s exactly the opposite. There is an enormous amount of circumstantial evidence and a logical explanation for interspecies evolution but only very remote hearsay evidence that anyone was ever raised from the dead.

[ClearBlueSky]

Can you make sushi out of it? That there would make a lot of rolls. Pass the wasabi!

[USMCPOP]

"Only slightly off topic... Wanna know a weird fact about turtles? They can breathe through their butts."

Oh big deal! Politicians can talk through their butts, and smile at the same time! Is that a form of ventriloquism?

Personally, I'd rather listen to a turtle breathe through its butt.

[MaryFromMichigan]

Lol!

[PGR88]

I think I ate one of those things last time I travelled to China for business....

[dan1123]

The salamander evolved and existed before the dinosaurs and survived comet impacts, mass extinctions, ice ages, etc. but is endangered because of your SUV.

WINNER!

[dan1123]

Thought everyone here would like to see the others. Hat-tip: Endangered Ugly Things

Sagalla caecilian (limbless amphibian with sensory tentacles on the sides of its head)


Purple frog (purple-pigmented frog that was only discovered in 2003 because it spends most of the year buried up to 4m underground)


Ghost frogs of South Africa (one species is found only in the traditional human burial grounds of Skeleton Gorge in Table Mountain, South Africa)


Olm (blind salamander with transparent skin that lives underground, hunts for its prey by smell and electrosensitivity and can survive without food for 10 years)


Lungless salamanders of Mexico (highly endangered salamanders that do not have lungs but instead breathe through their skin and mouth lining)


Malagasy rainbow frog (highly-decorated frog that inflates itself when under threat and can climb vertical rock surfaces)


Chile Darwin’s frog (a frog where fathers protect the young in their mouths, this species has not been officially seen since around 1980 and may now be extinct)


Betic midwife toad (toads that evolved from all others over 150million years ago – the males carry the fertilised eggs wrapped around their hind legs)

[Vince Ferrer]

This proves that environmentalism is too dominated by women. Guys should have an environmental organization that takes care of ugly, slimey, deformed looking, odd, poisonous, dangerous, violent, and creepy stuff. If we don’t take care of these things, how will future generations of boys gross out of the future generations of girls?

[Ken H]

One of the funniest ads I ever saw was a TV spot by the local zoo advertising its new reptile and amphibian house.

The first scene has all these frogs, snakes, and lizards descending on a house. Next it shows a lady inside the house with all these creatures staring in the window at her. At that point, a voice comes on and says, "You know, you should come to the zoo and see them. You really should."

The scene switches to outside the house - you hear a SCREAM! - then the voice says, "because if you don't come to see them, they'll come to see you."

[Eagles6]

Hmmm... they’re cool and interesting and it’s difficult to believe that they just “happened”. On the other hand I believe extinction is the rule, the climate always changes and global warming is a socialist scheme that may well do what lenin and osama couldn’t.

[Allegra]

Where I live, it’s all about snail darters, which are kind of like smelts only smaller. Yeah.

I make a nice snail-darter sauce, using a generous amount of snail-darters, butter, garlic and some herbs.

This sauce is particularly good on grilled spotted owl breasts and is also quite tasty with a nice, juicy manatee steak.

[Froufrou]

I used to fry the smelts when we ran out of tuna.

Evidently, I’m not as accomplished a cook as yourself.

;o)

[JoanVarga]

Ooops! My bad! I thought this was a thread about John McCain.