this creepy crawly looks like a spider with a dog's head and it's freaking
people out in July 2017 ondrea's k was roaming through the Ecuadorean portion
of the amazon rainforest the amazon is known to be one of the most biologically
diverse regions in the world s'okay was prepared to come across some
unusual creatures throughout the course of his travels but even so one tiny
critter was so utterly bizarre looking that it completely stole the man's
attention k is a scientist seeking to examine
Ecuador's rich natural environment since 2001 he's been documenting creatures and
plants found in the country capturing images and uploading them to the
internet so far he shared more than 25,000 images the sheer number of
photographs K has taken as a testament to the spectrum of life contained within
the Amazon and K has been recording plants and animals only within the
Ecuadorian section of the rainforest yet it spreads across eight other countries
too in fact only a small portion of it is found in Ecuador with it mostly lying
in Brazil Peru and Colombia all in all the Amazon serves as more than 50% of
the Earth's surviving rainforest it's thought to be about 55 million years old
emerging from the eocene period of Earth's history today it contains
roughly 390 billion trees these many billions of trees are split into about
16,000 different species indeed the sheer range of plant species
in general found in the Amazon is more varied than in any other region around
the world as it stands more than 40,000 different species of plant have been
recorded there of course the array of animal life is also profoundly broad in
the Amazon some 2.5 million different kinds of insects have been recorded
there as well as 2000 children species of fish almost 1,300 kinds of bird and
more than 400 types of mammal moreover new species continued to be
discovered regularly one report from 2017 suggests that a
previously undiscovered type of plant or animal is recorded in the Amazon every
two days so it could hardly come as a surprise for andreas kay in that very
year to stumble upon some unusual creatures during one of his ventures
even so he must have gotten a jolt upon coming across a creature known as a meta
grin by column not a meta grin by column not a is a type of arachnid which
belongs to the opal owns order the opal owns are more commonly referred to as
harvestman or daddy longlegs indeed meta grinned by comma Lada has itself been
given a more colloquial name based on its bizarre appearance it's known as the
bunny harvestman to put it plainly Caves photographs reveal a creature that looks
to be some combination of a spider and a dog or rabbit footage shows that this
curious creature has a dark body with a pair of eye spots situated on its back
Kay himself wrote in a blog post accompanying as images the creatures
awkward bunny ears rise above from the edge of its abdomen crazy in actuality
the critter is not a rabbit dog or even a spider in spite of the eight legs
harvestmen are not actually classified as spiders and the yellow dots on the
bunny harvestman are not in fact eyes the creatures actual eyes are located
just below the yellow knots we can see them as two black circles looking like
the nose of the rabbit or dog but if these yellow dots don't serve the
creatures sight then what are they for indeed why is the creature evolved to
look this way in general scientists are not yet able to provide a sufficient
answer k himself has a theory however in his blog post these scientists explained
his hypothesis may be the eye spots an ear like protuberances are meant to fool
predators into thinking the creature is larger than it really is he wrote in any
case this theory is yet to be properly examined indeed scientists have given
very little scientific thought or effort to the bunny harvestman k was far from
the first to discover the creature with a German by the name of Karl Friedrich
Brower documenting it way back in 1959 yet since that time researchers have
produced only a small of papers on the animal indeed it's
possibly the fact that so little is known about the bunny harvestman in
addition to its bizarre appearance that is so thoroughly captured people's
attentions Ches post generally gained little notice for over a year but in
November 2018 a science writer brought his images into the spotlight and soon
the online community was going wild for them the science writer who tweeted
Kay's images is called Ferriss Gobber and he has his own thoughts on the bunny
harvest moons appearance clearly he wrote in his tweet accompanying the
images it should be called the Grimm this is a reference to a symbol of death
that takes the form of a dog in the Harry Potter universe other Internet
users debated whether the arachnid most resembled a dog or a bunny indeed what
some people view it as a frightening creature horrified them one user
specifically questioned its resemblance to a cute bunny rabbit asking who when
this earth looked at that monstrosity and called it a bunny harvestman the
harvestman captivated others more however one user even went so far as to
claim the creature was actually kind of adorable
in any case regardless of its appearance the harvestman is in fact harmless when
viewing most of the images of the bunny harvestman one could be forgiven for
thinking the arachnid is a large Beast as one image shows though it's actually
a little bigger than the tip of a person's finger moreover it cannot
produce venom there's a famous urban myth that claims that harvestman are
among the most venomous creatures on earth this is a falsehood for multiple
reasons first and foremost however is that no
species of harvestman has ever been known to possess the glands required for
producing venom as for the bunny harvestman specifically more study will
be required to gain a clearer understanding of it for now it remains
something of an enigma with an appearance like something totally
unrelated to itself yet within the Amazon the bunny harvestman is far from
the only creature that resembles something else entirely full gara latter
Naya is a type of plant hopper found in the Amazon as well as across central in
South America in general it's known by a variety of different names including the
alligator bog and the land fly however given its appearance perhaps
the most appropriate name designated to the insect is peanut bug the peanut bug
is so-called because of the bulge at the top of his head this peanut resembling
lump is useful to the insect as it serves to drive potential predators away
and given that the bugs mouth is incapable of fighting this is an
important defensive feature the peanut shaped head however is not the insects
only defensive measure indeed when these things spreads its wings it reveals
colored spots resembling eyes it's thought that these false eyes serve to
frighten away hunters in addition to peanut bugs many other creatures make
use of false eyes indeed several species of butterfly are adorned with these
notable spots but one type in particular looks uncannily like another flying
animal the owl all butterflies are found in the Amazon as well as an other
rainforest across Central and South America they're even found as far north
as Mexico they can grow to quite a large size sometimes close to 8 inches the
spots on the wings of owl butterflies may for humans resemble the large eyes
of an owl but it's suspected that it's not actually the case for the
butterflies natural predators indeed according to the theory of baits Minh
mimicry the Spotswood resembled not an owl's eyes but rather the eyes of a
reptile such as a lizard though peanut bugs and owl butterfly's possess
ingenious defense measures it's difficult to suggest that the creatures
are subtle indeed with owl resembling wings and heads the shape of nuts it's
fair to say the creatures somewhat call for a bit of attention on the other hand
insects within the Tarragona dye family are considered more sophisticated in
their ability to stay hidden there are more than 6,400 different species of
Tarragona DIDS and they come in different sizes anywhere from a fifth of
an inch to five inches may exhibit cryptic qualities which ensure they're
undetected by predators in essence this means they can fool other animals into
thinking their leaves Tarragona dids are found in every
continent of the world excluding Antarctica they do however tend to live
in tropical climates indeed the Amazon is home to more the
two thousand different species if you consider individuals within specific
species of Tarragona did however you would find considerable diversity indeed
it's thought that almost 22 percent of each Tarragona died species was recorded
as new due to the level of diversity between individual insects the reason
for this diversity it's hypothesized is partly down to monkeys monkeys are prime
consumers of Tarragona DIDS searching for the insects by sifting through
plants monkeys are smart creatures so if all members of the Tarragona die species
look the same they'd eventually learn to identify them but with the distinctions
between individuals the monkeys can't get used to a single identifying
creature the Tarragona dids are wonderfully adapt in disguising
themselves but many other creatures can do so in fact there are animals other
than insects that are experts in camouflage the pachoo for example is a
type of bird found in tropical regions of the world there are numerous species
found in countries such as Argentina and Mexico but most are in the Amazon but
chews are nocturnal birds meaning they're active at nighttime
during the day in fact they spend their time in in a mobile state resting upon
branches but you needn't worry for the Pitou just because they rest in broad
daylight does not mean that they're overly exposed that's because the
pichu's feathers serve to conceal the bird from any potential predators
they're able to do this by giving off the appearance of tree bark
so when the bird rests on a branch it's visually indistinguishable from the log
itself the pichu's eyes in contrast to its subtle feathers are extremely large
and conspicuous however it shuts them during the day while it rests yet even
so the birds can perceive movement through small gaps at the bottom of its
eyelids so it's given another fighting chance for survival the Amazon is a
treasure trove of bizarre and fascinating creatures new species are
being recorded regularly and even many of those already discovered are by no
means fully understood yet unfortunately those seeking to learn more about these
plants and animals must also face up to the reality that they're under threat
deforestation represents a great threat to the Amazon and as such the plants and
animals residing within it in fact according to the World Wildlife Fund WWF
deforestation in the Amazon has already seen 20% of the trees that are destroyed
the group further predicts this to rise to 27 percent by 2030 this level of
habitat loss would have an adverse effect on global warming furthermore it
could ruin any chances of ever documenting previously unknown species
of plants and animals found there indeed this was a warning that Sarah Hutchinson
a prominent figure within WWF's fight to protect the Amazon game after the
publication of a 20-17 report highlighting the issue we're only at the
tip of the iceberg when it comes to unveiling the incredible species that
live in the Amazon Hutchison pointed out yet instead of this precious area being
safeguarded it's under greater threat than ever before there's a real risk
that at the rate at which the Amazon is changing many species may become extinct
before we've had a chance to find them it's clear that the Amazon rainforest
and the life found within it are under threat however between 2002 and 2006 the
rate of deforestation there fell by about 60% today much more needs to be
done yet the 60% drop illustrates that positive change is possible and if this
change occurs may be fascinating creatures such as the bunny harvestman
will be allowed to thrive and we might one day learn to understand these and
other mysterious Amazonian creatures with more