Cool Cryptids: 14 Amazing Animals of Myth & Legend

From a bizarre giant worm that spits lightening out of its anus to the notorious goat-sucking ‘Chupacabra’, these mythical beasts have never been confirmed.
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Nature’s Schedules: How Animals Really Spend Their Time

[ By Delana in Animals & Habitats & Art & Design & Nature & Ecosystems. ]

Animals in the wild lead busy, busy lives. They have so much to do that it is frankly amazing that we see them without little day planners or digital organizers. As a public service, these are the facts that animals can’t tell you themselves: how they really spend their days.

Elephants, as we all know, find it almost impossible to forget anything. But surprisingly, they do not devote much time each day to retaining memories. Most of their days, as it turns out, are spent eating. It takes a lot of time to find enough peanuts to fill up those big tummies.

Contrary to popular belief, jellyfish do not spend all day plotting to ruin your trip to the beach. In fact, the vast majority of their days are spent just lazily floating in the water and waiting for food to come to them.

Spiders aren’t the conniving monsters some people think they are – but nor are they unpaid advertisers of the virtues of farm pigs. Their days are spent mostly resting, though the chart does not differentiate between innocent rest time and rest time used to lure unsuspecting flies into traps.

Of course, not every animal’s schedule hides a surprise. Pandas, quite predictably, spend every moment of every day being adorable. Now that is sound scientific information. (Totally accurate pie charts via Jeff Wysaski and Pleated Jeans)

6 Unusual Plants And Monstrous Blooms

[ By Marc in Animals & Habitats, Home & Garden, Nature & Ecosystems. ]

Sometimes it seems like nature has stopped surprising, and every plant and animal has become as mundane and pedestrian as the next. It’s important to keep searching at the boundaries of the plant and animal kingdom in order to keep one’s love of nature as passionate as ever. Here are some unusual and rare plants that will give your enthusiasm a boost.

(Images via sarracenia, freerepublic)

Sundews are a large family of plants (with nearly 200 members) that are varied in appearance, but all carnivorous. They are known for their dew like drops at the end of tentacles that bristle across the plant. These serve a unique purpose: to trap insects so they can be digested by the plant.

(Images via myths-made-real, 2greenacres, myths-made-real)

Plants known as “Doll’s Eyes” are named for the disturbing berries that crop up once a year. These small white berries have small marks that appear like pupils, giving the plant an… interesting… appearance.

(Images via foyupdate, bbc, botanicalgarden)

Titun Arum plants are exceptional mostly for their incredible size. They have the largest inflorescence (shoot where flowers are formed) of any plant species. The flower is also known by the carrion smell it emits.

(Images via wikimedia, friendsschoolplantsale, theoceanviewnet)

Nightblooming Cereus flowers grow in deserts with incredibly low water levels, and because of this they can only afford to bloom at night, one or two nights a year.

(Images via indonesia-spots, amazingfacts, amazingfacts)

Rafflesia is a type of plant that parasitically attaches to the roots and vines of other plants, and is mainly visible because of its large flowers, which can weigh up to 22 pounds. These flowers are notable for looking and smelling like rotting flesh, which attracts pollinating flies.

(Images via moplants, coloradocarnivorousplantsociety)

The American Pitcher Plant populates the eastern seaboard of the United States and supplements its nutrition by trapping and digesting insects in its large, steep stem.