Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Hermit crabs from hell & more


Cabinet of Wonders had an excellent post up last week on menageries that touched on all sorts of fascinating histories of collecting animals. They mentioned Jean-Batistry Oudry who painted exotic animals in the 18th century. There is a book out on his work, Oudry's Painted Menagerie, that I highly recommend for readers interested in natural history. It's gorgeous (Oudry was phenomenally talented) and also filled with more of the information on menageries that the Cabinet of Wonders post touches on.

Following up on that post, today we get a look at what strange animals could appear in a modern day menagerie (if you really wanted to "outzoo the zoo"). There are a ton of interesting pictures of real animals(Yeti Lobsters? Ligers?) but that Coconut Crab is officially the most terrifying thing I've ever seen.

If we turn out backs it would eat us, I just know it.

3 comments :

Sarah Stevenson said...

I don't know, I think it looks kind of tasty...

Colleen said...

You are now officially one of the bravest (or weirdest!) people I know! ha

spacedlaw said...

It would too. Boiled alive and then smothered in mayonnaise.

(Hi! Got here via Heather's blog)