The world‘s most colorful mammal – naturally, we might add – has got to be the male Mandrill. Shown in the above photo at left and accompanied by a significantly less-colorful female and child, this primate is related to baboons but is classed as an Old World Monkey. According to Charles Darwin (a dude who knew a thing or two about monkeys), “no other member in the whole class of mammals is colored in so extraordinary a manner as the adult male mandrill.” Evidently Darwin never met Dee Snider.
This blue bird of happiness – actually a Palawan Peacock-Pheasant – doesn’t look all that happy if you ask us. Perhaps he’s pining for the fjords… wait, that’s a different blue bird. Our pal from Palawan, on the other hand, is a large and lively creature, especially so when rocking his fashionable duds to impress the smaller and much less colorful female of his species.
This Rainbow Bush Locust has no political aspirations though its jeweled countenance rivals Donald Trump’s thatch for an in-your-face fashion statement. This is probably the closest most readers have come to a real locust, besides the “locust bean gum” listed on the labels of far too many prepared foodstuffs. What’s up with that, anyway? Like, is the gum made from locusts, or beans, or both? Y’know what… we really don’t want to know.
Photographer Bill Meng and WCS captured the Strawberry Poison-Dart Frog above… visually, that is, and that’s a good thing: this relatively common amphibian found in Central American rainforests oozes powerful toxins that deleteriously affect heart function. Good job, “genius” who named this toxic toad after a sweet and delicious fruit.
