part of images - Joel Sartore

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A white-banded fishing spider (Dolomedes albineus) at the Audubon Insectarium, part of the Audubon Nature Institute.

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A beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) at SeaWorld San Diego. This individual is named Fernando and he is one of the oldest belugas in human care.

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A mudflat octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) at SeaWorld San Diego.

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A mudflat octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) at SeaWorld San Diego.

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A mudflat octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) at SeaWorld San Diego.

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A red knobbed sea star (Protoreaster linckii) at the Butterfly Pavilion.

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An Ecuadorian white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) at the Oklahoma Aquarium.

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A bat ray (Myliobatis californica) at the Oklahoma Aquarium.

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A common or eastern great horned owl (Bubo virginianus virginianus) named Halsey from a private collection.

Halsey was hit by a car in February 1997. Though nothing was broken, he suffered a concussion and is brain damaged because of it.

He is estimated to be 29 years old as of November of 2020. In the wild a great horned owl lives to be about 20. In captivity, where risks are few, they have lived into their 60’s making them the longest living raptor on record.

Halsey’s caretaker does all the “hunting” and provides him food but he is a generous bird, always willing to share his meal. His well-balanced diet includes freshly thawed rats and mice.

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A twelve spotted skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) photographed at Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center near Denton, NE. This animal was originally collected from Bobcat Prairie near Denton, NE.

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A twelve spotted skimmer dragonfly (Libellula pulchella) photographed at Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center near Denton, NE. This animal was originally collected from Bobcat Prairie near Denton, NE.

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An endangered adult Carolina madtom (Noturus furiosus) at Conservation Fisheries in Knoxville, Tennessee. This fish was collected in Neuse River in North Carolina. This is one of just two fish collected in this place in the past 8 years, so biologists fear that the species may soon be extinct in this river in the near future. It persists in one other river system, the Tar River in North Carolina.

This fish depends on mussels to survive; empty mussel shells provide them with both cover and nesting habitat. Mussels are also not doing well in these places, which hurts this fish. Factory farms and introduced flathead catfish are leading to their demise as well.

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A banded killifish (Fundulus diaphanous) from a private collection in Knoxville, Tennessee.

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Rainbow shiners (Notropis chrosomus) in spawning colors, from a private collection in Knoxville, Tennessee.

This species has translucent color from pink to golden with a silver-black stripe along its flanks. The base of its fins are of a reddish color. Adult males change their color during the mating period. Their ventral fins become blue, their head turns purple and their nose turns red.

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An LSD earth tiger (Thrigmopoeus psychedelicus). This species has a distinctive metallic blue-green sheen on both its carapace and abdomen. This is a very rare species, it is only known from a very few localities.

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A pumpkin patch tarantula (Hapalopus formosus) from a private collection.

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A tarantula (Ceratogyrus hillyardi) from a private collection. This genus is native to southern Africa. This genus is known to have horns, however, this is one of two species in this genus that is hornless.

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A stick insect (Phryganistria heusii yentuensis) from a private collection.

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An Amazon blue bloom tarantula (Xenesthis intermedia) from a private collection.

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A tarantula (Citharacanthus cyaneus) from a private collection.

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An Iraqi spiny-tailed lizard (Saara loricata) at Prague Zoo. This is the male. It can use its thick tail as a form of defense. It spends most of the year underground and is only active during the spring.