Common water monitor (Varanus salvator)

Biawak or common water monitor (Varanus salvator) is a species of animal in Varanidae, large lizards that live near freshwater and mangrove forests, semi-aquatic, good swimmers with paddle tails, strong jaws, sharp hoofed legs, adapt and thrive in local areas farms and cities with canal systems for elevations below 1000 meters.

V. salvator has a length of 1.5-2 meters and weighs up to 20 kg as the second heaviest lizard in the world after the Komodo dragon. A muscular body with a long, strong and paddle tail. The scales on the keel and on the head are larger than those on the back.

Commonly brown or blackish in color with a yellow spot on the underside and tends to disappear gradually with age. The band extends from each eye and back over each edge of the back, upper tail and upper legs.

Very long neck, elongated muzzle, powerful jaw, serrated teeth and fingertips ending with sharp claws that can be used to climb trees. Long tail, shaped like a paddle, black with yellow rings and pointed tip.

Common water monitors have a semi-aquatic lifestyle inhabiting various natural habitats in primary forests and mangrove swamps. Adapt and develop in vegetated rivers in agricultural areas and cities with canal systems.

Biawak defends itself using its tail, claws and jaws. Carnivores that eat a wide variety of prey including fish, frogs, rodents, birds, crabs, snakes, turtles, young crocodiles and crocodile eggs. They eat by tearing open chunks of meat with sharp teeth while holding them with their forelegs.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Sauria
Family: Varanidae
Genus: Varanus
Species: Varanus salvator
Subspecies: Varanus salvator ssp. andamanensis, Varanus salvator ssp. bivittatus, Varanus salvator ssp. macromaculatus, Varanus salvator ssp. salvator, Varanus salvator ssp. ziegleri

Black jumping spider (Hyllus diardi)

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A deep-sea isopod Bathyopsurus nybelini adapted to feed submerged Sargassum algae

NEWS - Incredible footage shows a marine species, Bathyopsurus nybelini , feeding on something that sinks from the ocean’s surface. Researchers using the submersible Alvin found the isopod swimming 3.7 miles down using its paddle-like legs to catch an unexpected food source: Sargassum. Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Montana, SUNY Geneseo, Willamette University and the University of Rhode Island found the algae sinking, while the isopod waited and adapted specifically to find and feed on the sinking nutrient source. The Sargassum lives on the surface for photosynthesis. The discovery of a deep-sea animal that relies on food that sinks from the waters miles above underscores the close relationship between the surface and the deep. “It’s fascinating to see this beautiful animal actively interacting with sargassum, so deep in the ocean. This isopod is extremely rare; only a handful of specimens were collected during the groundbreaking Swedis...

Hairy senna (Senna hirsuta)

Hairy senna ( Senna hirsuta ) is a species of plant in the Fabaceae family. It is an upright shrub, growing up to 2.5 meters tall. The leaves are compound on petioles up to 13 cm long. They usually have 2-6 pairs of leaflets, are egg-shaped, and have white hairs, up to 10 cm long and 5 cm wide. The flowers are yellow and arranged at the tips of branches and in the upper leaf axils in clusters of 2-5. The petals are 12-16 mm long, have 6 stamens, 3-8 mm long anthers, and 4 staminodes. Flowering occurs almost monthly. The pods are cylindrical, up to 15 cm long, 4-6 mm wide, and curved. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Subfamily: Caesalpinioideae Tribe: Cassieae Subtribe: Cassiinae Genus: Senna Mill. in Gard. Dict. Abr., ed. 4.: [s.p.] (1754) Species: Senna hirsuta (L.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby in Phytologia 44: 499 (1979) Variety: Senna hirsuta var. acuminata (Benth.) H.S.Irwin & Barneby, Senna ...

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