Burning 15 tons of elephant tusks

"A ranger from the Kenya Wildlife Service walks past 15 tons of elephant tusks which were set on fire, during an anti-poaching ceremony at Nairobi National Park in Nairobi, Kenya Tuesday, March 3, 2015. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta set fire to the elephant ivory during World Wildlife Day to discourage poaching, saying that 25 years after the historic banning of the ivory trade, new demand from emerging markets is threatening Africa's elephants and rhinos."

Photo credit Khalil Senosi, Associated Press, via the StarTribune.

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Icebergs

Herewith three selections from a gallery of iceberg photos at The Telegraph.  Top photo credit to Steppes Travel. The beautifully-laminated one is by Hurtigruten/Dominic Barrington.  The bottom one, by Lizzie Williams, I include just for scale: those black dots are penguins.

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Weaselpecker

If you have never seen a weasel riding on the back of a woodpecker before, you can read the explanation at The Telegraph, where there is a video interview with the photographer.

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A Royal Flycatcher - before and after

Via Reddit.

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Umbrella pines

A magnificent painting by Hendrik Voogd, from the Rijksmuseum, posted at Robs Webstek.

The trees are Pinus pinea, "also called Italian stone pine, umbrella pine and parasol pine."

Stone pines have been used and cultivated for their edible pine nuts since prehistoric times. They are widespread in horticultural cultivation as ornamental trees, planted in gardens and parks around the world.

In youth, it is a bushy globe, in mid-age an umbrella canopy on a thick trunk, and, in maturity, a broad and flat crown over 8 metres (26 ft) in width.

In Italy, the stone pine has been an aesthetic landscape element since the Italian Renaissance garden period.

It is also planted in western Europe up to southern Scotland, and on the East Coast of the United States up to New Jersey. Small specimens are used for Bonsai, and also grown in large pots and planters. The year-old seedlings are seasonally available as 20–30 centimetres (7.9–11.8 in) tall table-top Christmas trees.

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Fennec fox

This evocative photo by Bruno D'Amicis was one of the winning entries in the 2014 World Press Photo of the Year competition.  These are his notes:

An adult fennec fox crouches in a village sheep pen [in Tunisia]. The fox had been captured as a cub, and kept as a pet for over a year.

The fennec is the smallest of the Canidae (dog family) and is found in desert and semi-desert areas of North Africa. It is particularly well-adapted to desert conditions—its large ears help dissipate heat, furry under-paws provide insulation against hot sands, and it can live without water for long periods, deriving all it needs from its prey. Fennecs are not an endangered species, but—prized for their appearance—they are systematically being captured to be sold as pets, or used to make money from tourists wishing to pose for souvenir photographs.

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Siberian luminous earthworms

They contain a novel form of luciferin:

Intriguingly, the luminous system of Siberian taiga earthworms is different from that of similar types of species, which means that not only have scientists found one more luminous protein, but they have made a step towards
decrypting the whole new luminous system.

Crucially it is revealed that 'the protein is simple in chemical synthesis, exceptionally stable and not toxic, which means it can be widely used in applied bioluminescence'.

Earthworms don't have eyes.  Do they have photosensitive cells somewhere on their bodies?   That would seem to be a prerequisite for developing this luciferin, because otherwise the luminescence would only be of benefit to voles and other predators.  I remember reading somewhere recently about reptiles or amphibians with photoreceptors on their tails which allow them to detect whether they are fully hidden within their burrows.

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An ant-mimicking treehopper

That's not an ant attacking an insect, as explained in an article entitled "Myrmecomorphomania" at Current Biology:

The insect was quickly identified to be a treehopper of the family Membracidae by the name of Cyphonia clavata — a species that lives in Middle and South America, and looks more like a creature from Greek mythology than a product of natural selection. At first, you see what looks like an ant; only on the second look, it becomes evident that the supposed ‘ant’ is actually not an ant at all, but an illusion created by a curious protrusion extending from the insect's pronotum. The main body of the treehopper is almost buried under the large ant-like shape and because of its pale colouration, much less obvious than the dark-coloured ‘ant’. The protrusion's general likeness to an ant is remarkably accurate, and, with the ‘propodeal spines’ found on the ant imitation, the similarity to the aggressive and stinging ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae is striking. Notably, the ant-mimicking structure seems to be inverted, with the imitated head facing towards the back of the treehopper. That way, as the treehopper moves forward, it probably creates a rather good impression of a reversing and agitated ant in erect defensive posture, deterring any would-be predators. To complete the illusion, the terminal segments of the treehopper's hindlegs, coloured like the ‘ant’, most likely serve as the ‘ant's’ forelegs, which provides the static protrusion with the illusion of movement.

More pix at the links.  Embedded photo by Andreas Kay, via The Ark in Space.

Previously on TYWKIWDBI:  Treehoppers and Thorn Treehoppers.

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