The Vampire Squid from Hell

Yes, it is Vampyroteuthis Infernalis which translates to "Vampire Squid from Hell". When threatened, the Vampire Squid can literally turn itself inside out to reveal a defensive set of threatening spikes as seen in this gif made by Meme Guy from a Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute video:

Bruce Robison, the resident expert on Vampire Squids at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) gives us a good introduction to this fascinating creature in this video produced by the Science Friday YouTube Channel:

The Animals Network has put together a concise page of what is currently known about this mysterious denizen of the deepest depths - as far as 3,000 ft. below sea level and more!

Animals Network: Vampire Squid

For years marine biologists have puzzled over what the mysterious vampire squid eats. Recent research by Henk-Jan Hoving and Bruce Robison at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) finally reveals the answer. These deep-sea creatures use long, retractile filaments to passively harvest particles and aggregates of detritus, or marine snow, sinking from the waters above. This feeding strategy, unknown in any other cephalopod (this group of animals includes squid and octopods), allows vampire squid to thrive in the oxygen minimum zone where there are few predators but marine detritus is abundant:

 MBARI:  What the Vampire Squid Really Eats

On the Smithsonian Ocean Portal family tree of cephalopods you can see the Vampire Squid has its own unique branch:

Smithsonian Ocean: Cephalopods

One of the most fascinating and comprehensive web pages on the vampire squid is provided by the Tree of Life Web Project:

Tree of Life Web Project: The Vampire Squid

Nautilus Live had an exciting close encounter with a vampire squid:

 Almost a mile deep off Socorro Island, we had an extended visit with a Vampyroteuthis infernalis--literally meaning "vampire squid from hell." Neither squid nor octopus, this fierce-sounding cephalopod actually reels in specks of marine snow using two retractable filaments and mucus-covered suckers! 

This close encounter was captured with both our normal ROV Hercules HD camera and a low light camera for bioluminescence designed by Dr. Brennan Phillips at University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography and David Gruber at the City College of New York/Baruch College.

Close Encounter With a Vampire Squid 

 

 

The Legendary Giant Squid

The giant squid emerges from the realm of myth and legend as the fearsome KRAKEN:

 
It is only recently that live giant squids were filmed:

Giant Squid Caught on Tape for First Time for Discovery Channel's  

Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real

Washington Post June 23, 2019: 
Scientists captured video of a giant squid

The giant squid is an invertebrate (spineless creature) and is the largest member of the Cephalopod family.  The amazing Smithsonian Ocean website provides a family tree as well lots of other fascinating information about cephalopods:

Smithsonian Ocean: Cephalopods

The cephalopods are a diverse class of mollusks. Today, scientists divide the living cephalopods into three groups, called superorders. Many details of cephalopod evolutionary classification continue to change as scientists find new clues from genetic testing and newly discovered fossils. (Created by Ashley Gallagher for the Ocean Portal)

The Smithsonian Ocean Portal also provides a fascinating and informative page on the giant squid:

 The Giant Squid

 

This female giant squid is the larger of two on display in the Smithsonian's Sant Ocean Hall. (Don Hurlbert/Smithsonian Institution

The Museum of New Zealand - Te Papa Tongarewa provides a great page on...

The difference between colossal squid, giant squid, and octopus 

Mental Floss provides...

20 Freaky Facts About the Giant Squid 

The Amazing and Mysterious Octopus

An octopus in an aquarium in Brest, France. The animals are highly intelligent, but researchers are uncertain how the trait evolved. CreditCreditFred Tanneau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The octopus is an invertebrate (spineless creature) and belongs to the Cephalopod family.  The amazing Smithsonian Ocean Portal provides a family tree as well lots of other fascinating information about cephalopods:

Smithsonian Ocean: Cephalopods

The cephalopods are a diverse class of mollusks. Today, scientists divide the living cephalopods into three groups, called superorders. Many details of cephalopod evolutionary classification continue to change as scientists find new clues from genetic testing and newly discovered fossils. (Created by Ashley Gallagher for the Ocean Portal)

Cephalopods have been around for a VERY long time and have been among the dominant large predators in the ocean before they became every animals favorite dish.  The Earth Archives provides a good look at...

500 Million Years of Cephalopod Fossils

Animalogic provides a good introduction to the octopus as well as explaining what makes them...

The World’s Greatest Escape Artists

W

10 reasons why the octopus is one of the most incredible creatures in the sea:

The National Aquarium provides this helpful infographic:

  

The octopus makes a good mother as reported by Pang Quong:   In Port Phillip Bay during October, one of our small octopus(Octopus pallidus) lay their eggs in small caves ,bottle or old tyres. The female stays with her eggs until they all hatch. Over about 3 weeks I checked the progress of one female and her eggs:

It was long assumed that the octopus was a solitary, antisocial creature, until the recent discovery of two octopus "cities":  Octlantis and Octopolis:

 Octlantis is a just-discovered underwater city engineered by octopuses

The gloomy octopus, lonely no more in Octlantis.

Why octopuses are building small “cities” off the coast of Australia

A map of Octlantis, the second settlement of gloomy octopuses found off the coast of Australia. About 10 to 15 octopuses live here, in mounds of shells that have been constructed over generations.

'Octlantis': Bustling Octopus Community Discovered Off Australia

One of the most comprehensive web pages on the octopus can be found at ourmarinespecies.com:

Octopuses: Characteristics, habitats, reproduction and more

The Daily Catch: An Octopus has 3 Hearts, 9 Brains & Blue Blood


The nine brains of the octopus all add up to a considerable intelligence:

New York Times: Yes, the Octopus Is Smart as Heck. But Why?

 Coconut Carrying Octopus

Scientific American: The Mind of an Octopus 

Credit: HENRIK SORENSEN Getty Images

The New Yorker: Why Not Eat Octopus?


And one (or rather eight!) of the most fascinating things about the octopus:  their tentacles, each one of which has its own mini-brain!

Credit:  Kelly Murphy Illustration

Sputnick News: Octopus’ All-Mighty Tentacles May Shed Light on Extra-Terrestrial Life 

Researchers model how octopus arms make decisions 

Cosmos: How the octopus got its smarts

Visit our other two octopus posts:  The Legendary Giant Squid
The Vampire Squid From Hell

Birds of Prey: Gyrfalcon

We now move into a new bird of prey species:  the falcons, and our first falcon is the one you find on a Canadian stamp.  Why?  Just look at the North American distribution of this bird from the All About Birds website:

Gyrfalcon Distribution

The Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus)  (gyr- is pronounced as in:  jeer) ranges over the whole of Canada, but just because it is largely Canadian in North America doesn't mean it cannot be found elsewhere in the world.  As a matter of fact, it is also flourishing in Northern Europe and Siberia.  On the Global Register of Migratory Species Website we can see its  

Worldwide Distribution

While the gyrfalcon population worldwide is doing well, the Yukon population may be in trouble as noted in Canadian Geographic:

The full research paper by Dave H. Mossop can be found online for reading or downloading:

LONG-TERM STUDIES OF WILLOW PTARMIGAN AND GYRFALCON IN THE YUKON TERRITORY: A COLLAPSING 10-YEAR CYCLE AND ITS APPARENT EFFECT ON THE TOP PREDATOR

  The gyrfalcon stamp was one of a stunning series of Canadian Bird stamps issued in 2016-18:

Birds of Canada Stamp Series

Here is the full picture from which the stamp was taken:

And worldwide, many countries have featured the gyrfalcon on their stamps:

Gyrfalcon Stamps Worldwide 

The Gyrfalcon comes in several color variations and these are divided ino two morphs or color groups:  white and dark,  and the what-when-how (In Depth Tutorials and Information) website has a good fact sheet on the gyrfalcon and its distinguishing features:

Now listen to the gyrfalcon:

Many people confuse falcons and hawks and the Compare Animals website has a good page on distinguishing one from the other:

Compare Falcon vs Hawk

The Internet Bird Collection has an excellent page on the gyrfalcon featuring many stunning videos and photographs:

Internet Bird Collection: Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) 

The gyrfalcon is considered to be the largest falcon in the world as well as one of the fastest. 

Eugene Potapov, one of the world's experts on gyrfalcons (see his book below) provides this excellent video:

Just how fast is the gyrfalcon?  Check out this exciting BBC Earth Unplugged video: 

How Fast Is A Gyrfalcon? | Earth Unplugged

 
In this Peregrine Fund video, join a research group in Alaska traveling by helicopter and then rappelling down cliff faces to observe and study the gyrfalcon:

Think you know everything about the gyrfalcon now?

10 things you didn’t know about Gyrfalcon

 

 

Eager to read more about the gyrfalcon?  Check out the definitive guide:

The Gyrfalcon (2005) by Eugene Potapov and Richard Sale

Birds of Prey: Eagle on Stilts

Photo by Yoky taken at Serengeti National Park, Tanzania [CC BY-SA 3.0 ]

The Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) is often called the eagle on stilts.  While considered a member of the Accipitroformes (along with most raptors) it has its own family and is distinct from all other birds of prey.

San Diego Zoo:  Secretary Bird

The San Diego Zoo website has a good page on the secretarybird including a theory about its odd name:

 San Diego Zoo:  Secretarybird Info Page

Planet Doc has a good introductory video on the Secretarybird:

Secretary Birds of Africa | Nature

 

Secretarybirds are notorious for their powerful kick which enables them to dine on their favorite prey: snakes, and even the deadly ones!   Watch the amazing Madeline the secretary bird stomp a rubber snake in the interest of scientific research in the Jason Ashfield video:

Secretary Bird Stomps Snake with a Killer Kick

Animalogic presents a comprehensive and entertaining video on the secretarybird:

Secretary Birds: Killer Queens

Join Nikon Birding Adventures in Botswana to find secretarybirds as well as many of their bird and beastly neighbors:

Botswana Birds

Birds of Prey: Steller's Sea Eagle

Photograph by Tuxyso / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

When you first see a picture of the Steller's Sea Eagle you might believe it to be a cartoon character, but don't let its apparently silly looks fool you.  This is a highly successful and powerful bird of prey.  The Steller's Sea Eagle is on average about twice the size of the mighty bald eagle!

This eagle is named for Georg Wilhelm Steller, the German botanist, zoologist, physician and explorer.  He observed the eagle in 1740 during  Vitus Bering’s harrowing Second Kamchatka Expedition to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the northern Pacific off Siberia, then on towards Alaska in the disastrous and tragic finale of this voyage.

Steller's journal from this expedition makes for fascinating reading and is available for free  perusing and download at the Internet Archive:

Bering's Voyages Volume 2 
 

National Geographic presents: 
 Kamchatka: Siberia's Forbidden Wilderness

Kamchatka: Siberia's Forbidden Wilderness

  

The San Diego Zoo notes that this eagle is often called the world’s most magnificent bird of prey, and has an informative web page on it:

Steller's Sea Eagle Page 

The Internet Bird Collection has what must be the most extensive information page on the Steller's Sea Eagle, with many videos and sound bites:

Watch this amazing hunter in action in this National Geographic footage: 

The Steller's Eagle is considered to be the biggest and heaviest eagle on the planet with a wing span of over eight feet!

This video is great for showing the eagle's size compared to a human handler:

Eagles in the Snow:  the BBC's intrepid explorer heads to the ice ridden ocean off Siberia. On his exciting kayak journey, he encounters different species of sea eagle and even a red fox! From the BBC's Japan's Secret Wilderness:

The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species gives the Steller's Sea Eagle's current conservation status as "Vulnerable":

The Institute of Wildlife studies has been involved in conservation issues with Steller’s Sea Eagles in Russia and provides a page about the the eagle and its conservation:

 

Steller's Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus pelagicus)

Birds of Prey: Great Nicobar Serpent Eagle (Spilornis klossi)

Adult perched.   Photo by:  Niranjan Sant, IBC1512624. Accessible at hbw.com/ibc/1512624.

The Great Nicobar Serpent Eagle (Spilornis klossi) is considered to be the smallest eagle currently living.  How small is it? In the Main Hall at the National Aviary in Pittsburgh you can go to the Eagle Wall and compare your wingspan to those of many eagles, including the Great Nicobar Serpent Eagle (in this case called South instead of Great):

And fittingly this eagle can only be found in a very small place, the Indian island of Great Nicobar just north of Sumatra:

 Planet of Birds: Great Nicobar Serpent Eagle (Spilornis klossi)

Wild Films India has an excellent panoramic fly over of Great Nicobar Island:

OGAClicks provides a good overview of this eagle:

Great Nicobar Serpent Eagle

 Avibase - The World Bird Database classifies the Great Nicobar Eagle as "Near Threatened":

 The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species keeps track of what threats this eagle faces, and what is currently being done to protect it:

The Wildlife Photographer Shreeram M V describes his expedition to photograph this amazing bird:

Visual Quotient: The World's Smallest Eagle