weedy seadragons

There are probably some weird things about weedy seadragons (Phyllopteryx taeniolatus), but the fact that they exist is weird enough for me. They look like someone crossed a seahorse, a kangaroo, a sandpiper, and a pomegranate, painted the offspring, then decided to grow kelp on them. And they dance.

I learned this from Pharyngula. See also: Leafy sea dragon.

head lice

In North America, head lice are adapted to round strands of hair.  African Americans, who tend to have curly hair, are therefore less susceptible to head lice.  (But African head lice are adapted to oval strands of hair, so there are still infestations of head lice there.)

I learned this from UC IPM: Head Lice Management Guidelines.  And now I'm itchy.

Able Seacat Simon

The Dickin Medal is given to animals who show "conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty" during wartime. Most of the winners have been pigeons (they carried messages during World War II) or dogs, but there have also been a few horses and one cat.

Able Seacat Simon* of the HMS Amethyst was posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal in 1949 for removing a rat infestation and raising the sailors' morale, even after he was injured by a shell blast.

* not to be confused with Simon's Cat

I learned this by following this convoluted path on Wikipedia: Berber cuisine --> Pastilla --> Columbidae --> War pigeon --> Commando (pigeon) --> Dickin Medal --> Simon (cat), which linked to Ilford Animal Cemetery.

squid light, squid bright

Some species of squid, such as the Hawaiian bobtail squid, have a symbiotic relationship with luminescent bacteria. The bacteria colonize the light organ on the underside of the squid, which hides the squid's silhouette from predators that live on the ocean floor.

I learned this from The Cephalopoda and National Geographic.

hamsters and snails

Snail racing and hamster racing are both sports in the UK.

I learned this from Wikipedia. Where else?

See also: The World Snail Racing Championships, where the winner gets a cup of lettuce.

swallowing sound

Scientists used to believe that sound waves travel through a whale's lower jaw to its ear.  In 2008, computer modeling showed that sound actually enters the whale's throat, then passes into a fatty channel that transfers the vibrations to the whale's ear.

I learned this from How is that whale listening? via Whale. The computer model was based on Cuvier's beaked whale, which holds the record for the deepest dive (6230 feet) by an air-breathing animal.

eyeballs and brains

Tarsiers and ostriches have eyeballs that are the same size as their respective brains. 

I learned this from: 
1. Two Texting Tarsiers 
2. Freaks of Nature: Tarsier (Tarsius), South-East Asian islands 
3. Ostrich Fact or Fiction - American Ostrich Association 

image credit: Wikimedia Commons, where you can also find many other pictures of tarsiers going ( O.O)