December 29, 2008
Hot-pink and bitchy
You may have heard that more than 1,000 new species were found in the Greater Mekong area between 1997 and 2007. Amazing discoveries, from spiders the size of dinner plates to woolly bats, but perhaps the most intriguing of all these creatures is the Pink Dragon Millipede (Desmoxytes purpurosea)
The millipede may look “pretty” but this is not a candy-coated cuddley critter…it’s spiny and toxic and shoots cyanide if “bugged”. Far from a fashion statement, the millipede’s colour is designed to warn potential predators of its toxicity.
For some reason this image pops into my head…
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