The barking owl is a striking-looking hunter found in Australia’s woodlands. Compact, powerful and yellow-eyed, it spends the day roosting in foliage before emerging to hunt mammals, birds, reptiles and insects as the light fades. It is often heard before it is seen: alongside its dog-like bark, this owl can produce an eerie, wavering scream […]
Tag: talons
“Effects range from internal bleeding to manipulating behaviour or liquifying a host.” These are the deadliest weapons in the animal kingdom
When a peacock mantis shrimp strikes, it generates the heat of a star. The crustacean retracts a spring-loaded mouthpart known as a dactyl club and puts it on a latch, like a cowboy cocking the hammer of a gun. After pulling the trigger to release the stored elastic potential energy, the club moves like a […]
“The blow was unbelievably powerful, like being hit with a baseball bat. To make it worse, one of her talons pierced my neck, leaving it numb and bleeding.”
The harpies were mythological spirits that took the dead to hell, but this harpy eagle was intent on taking James out. I was about to climb nearly 50m up a tree and I was having second thoughts, says James Aldred. My mission was to adjust a remote camera installed a few months earlier in a harpy […]