The photo shown below was taken at a market in Shanghai, China.

Can you guess what they are?


Water caltrops (Trapa natans) are the seeds of a floating annual aquatic plant that's native to warm temperate parts of Eurasia and Africa. The plant grows in slow-moving water up to 5 m deep, and bear an ornately shaped fruit that resembles the head of a bull or the silhouette of a flying bat. Each fruit contains a single very large, starchy seed. T. natans and T. bicornis have been cultivated in China and the Indian subcontinent for at least 3,000 years for the edible seeds that are used in pastries, served steamed or boiled from street vendors, and even as a remedy for inebriation.

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Pangolins, often called "scaly anteaters," are solitary, primarily nocturnal animals, are easily recognized by their full armor of scales. If that's not impressive enough, their tongues are attached near its pelvis and last pair of ribs, and when fully extended is longer than the animal’s head and body. At rest a pangolin’s tongue retracts into a sheath in its chest cavity.

Our perception has heavily depended on how well we can accurately describe our surroundings. And this description relies on our language. Our ancestors apparently were not capable of perceiving the color blue. If they did, they were not capable of noticing it, simply because there was no term in language for blue. The first civilization to document and affirm the color blue was the Ancient Egyptian Civilization. In fact, the Ancient Egyptians were the only ancestors that were able to produce blue dyes! Moreover, philologists have compared Hindu, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew and many more languages only to find no mention of the color blue. However, just because the term for blue did not exist, does not mean our ancestors did not perceive blue.

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Eucalyptus deglupta, commonly called rainbow eucalyptus, is a very large, fast-growing, broadleaved evergreen tree that is native to moist humid tropical forested areas with high rainfall in New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippine Islands (Island of Mindanao).

It is perhaps best noted for its smooth orange-tinted trunk bark which peels in summer to reveal a unique and sometimes stunning multi-colored bark (as described by the common name of rainbow eucalyptus) consisting of streaks of pale green, red, orange, gray and purple-brown. ...

This is Zeus, a blind Western Screech Owl whose eyes look like forming galaxies. The stellar effect is likely caused by chunky vitreous strands in his eyes. The handsome owl was found injured in Southern California and now lives at the Wildlife Learning Centre in Los Angeles.

Phillipsia subpurpurea is a species of fungus in the family Sarcoscyphaceae. It is found in Australia where it grows as a saprophyte on wood. It's cup-shaped fruit bodies lack stipes and have purplish interior surfaces.

Japanese farmer, Hiroichi Kimura, has perfected growing the heart-shaped watermelon.

Bino, an albino alligator that lives at the Sao Paulo Aquarium in Brazil.

Read more on albinism.