ANIMALS

Rare Video Captures The Incredible Moment A Male Seahorse Gives Birth In Its Natural Habitat

Birth is truly a remarkable event in the natural world, and witnessing the birth of wild animals, especially in the ocean, is a rare occurrence. Seahorses, as you may know, have a unique reproductive process where it is the males who carry and give birth to their babies. It is quite extraordinary to observe this phenomenon.

Recently, two scientists had the incredible opportunity to capture on video a special moment in the life of a male seahorse as it gave birth. This footage not only allows for scientific study but also provides a fascinating and enjoyable experience for us to witness.

Image source: YouTube/meagan abele

Last month, while diving off the eastern coast of Australia, Clayton Manning and Meagan Abele were conducting research on seahorses for the conservation organization Project Seahorse. During their dive, they came across a male seahorse carrying its babies in its pouch. While it wasn’t surprising to find a seahorse, it was a rare and exciting moment to witness the release of multiple baby seahorses from the father’s pouch as they floated away into their natural surroundings. Fortunately, the researchers captured this event on video, which you can see above, providing a fascinating glimpse into the world of seahorses.

Image source: YouTube/meagan abele

“We were doing a survey and found a very, very pregnant male that had a tiny tail sticking out of his brood pouch,” Manning said. “I had just finished getting his measurements and a baby shot out of the opening. So we sat back and watched the father for a while.”

Image source: YouTube/meagan abele

If you’re not familiar with seahorse biology, it’s interesting to know that male seahorses take on the role of carrying and giving birth to their offspring. After the female seahorse deposits eggs in the male’s special pouch located on his abdomen, he nurtures them for about three weeks until they’re ready to be released. During this time, the baby seahorses develop inside the pouch, and once they’re fully formed, the male seahorse releases them into the underwater world. It’s amazing to think that a male seahorse can give birth to a brood of anywhere from 100 to 250 babies!

“It’s surreal to watch it happen!!!”

According to the University of British Columbia, while it’s common to find videos of seahorse births in aquariums on platforms like YouTube, witnessing such an event in the wild is less frequent. The seahorse featured in the video belongs to a species called White’s seahorse, also known as the Sydney seahorse. It’s interesting to note that the seahorse’s scientific name, Hippocampus whitei, is derived from the hippocampus, a region in our brains that resembles the shape of a seahorse.

In contrast to many conservation stories, White’s seahorses are doing well in Australia. Clayton Manning’s research aims to understand the reasons behind their success and explore how the local underwater plants and coral reefs might be contributing to their thriving population.

ANIMALS

Amazing Video of Unseen Ocean Creatures in the Ningaloo Canyons

The Schmidt Ocean Institute recently explored the Ningaloo Canyons on the western coast of Australia using a robotic underwater vehicle called the ROV Sebastian. Check out the amazing video of what they discovered in the deep parts of the Indian Ocean.

More info: Youtube

ANIMALS

These Pics Are Art and the Artists Are Insects

Flying insects move so quickly that they are hard to follow, but new technology and some smart ideas have helped Spanish photographer Xavi Bou do just that. After spending 10 years focusing on birds in flight for his Ornithographies project, he turned his attention to insects.

For Entomographies, he uses high-speed video footage taken by Adrian Smith, an insect expert at North Carolina State University, to study and record how insects move. Bou then picks multiple frames and combines them into single images that show the fast movements of one or more insects through space and time.

With Smith’s help, Bou has captured the aerial tricks of wasps, the jumps of leafhoppers, and the fluttering of butterflies in amazing detail. He hopes that by doing this, he can make people more aware of the decline in important insect populations around the world.

1. Zebra longwing

This butterfly, which is common in many areas of the Americas, really fits its name. It can fly very high with just a few flaps of its large wings.