Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Who needs aliens? We've got sea dragons.

Sometimes I forget how mind-blowing life on Earth is. It just slips my mind. Then I see something like these sea dragons and my mind is freshly blown. Gather your kids and take a look.

Check out how well-camoflagued these creatures are! Kids, the ones that weren't shaped just like the plants around them were spied by predators and gobbled up. Only the ones that are shaped like the plants can hide well, avoid the predators and have some babies. And look at that! The babies look just like them!

Also, it's the male sea dragon who carries the eggs. Wow. There must be some survival advantage to that, just like being shaped like the plants. I don't know what that advantage is, but I bet your kids could come up with some great hypotheses. Enjoy.

Thanks, BBC!

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