Most people avoid ugly animals. I'm obsessed with them | Sami Bayly

Growing up in rural Australia, I found joy in the weird creatures around me – and finding out why they had evolved that way. Now I’ve illustrated a whole children’s book about them

The surinam toad is an unusual creature to behold: it has an extremely flat, splat-like body, with a posterior packed with large pores full of babies. It’s as though somewhere during evolution, it took a wrong turn – and then got run over.

But of course, the adaptation has an intelligent purpose. By carrying her eggs on her back, the mother is able to lay flat against her surroundings, protecting her spawn from predators until they are ready for the world.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/2oGgZxg
via
0 Comments