Clouds Rest viewed from Olmsted Point. Clouds Rest is one of the most massive -- if not the singlemost massive -- granite monoliths in the world. A vast lobe of Mesozoic-era granodiorite magma cooled to rock and was gradually uplifted to its present altitude of 9926 ft. Later, glaciers cut it into its present shape.
Location: Yosemite National Park, California
Image ID: 09964
Wolf eel, although similar in shape to eels, is cartilaginous and not a true fish. Its powerful jaws can crush invertibrates, such as spiny sea urchins. It can grow to 6 feet (2m) in length.
Species: Wolf eel, Anarrhichthys ocellatus
Image ID: 11847
Wolf eel, although similar in shape to eels, is cartilaginous and not a true fish. Its powerful jaws can crush invertibrates, such as spiny sea urchins. It can grow to 6 feet (2m) in length.
Species: Wolf eel, Anarrhichthys ocellatus
Image ID: 11848
Shingleback lizard. This lizard has a fat tail shaped like its head, which can fool predators into attacking the wrong end of the shingleback.
Species: Shingleback lizard, Trachydosaurus
Image ID: 12571
Shingleback lizard. This lizard has a fat tail shaped like its head, which can fool predators into attacking the wrong end of the shingleback.
Species: Shingleback lizard, Trachydosaurus
Image ID: 12572
Shingleback lizard. This lizard has a fat tail shaped like its head, which can fool predators into attacking the wrong end of the shingleback.
Species: Shingleback lizard, Trachydosaurus
Image ID: 12573
Shingleback lizard. This lizard has a fat tail shaped like its head, which can fool predators into attacking the wrong end of the shingleback.
Species: Shingleback lizard, Trachydosaurus
Image ID: 12574
The bisons massive head is its most characteristic feature. Its forehead bulges because of its convex-shaped frontal bone. Its shoulder hump, dwindling bowlike to the haunches, is supported by unusually long spinal vertebrae. Over powerful neck and shoulder muscles grows a great shaggy coat of curly brown fur, and over the head, like an immense hood, grows a shock of black hair. Its forequarters are higher and much heavier than its haunches. A mature bull stands about 6 1/2 feet (2 meters) at the shoulder and weighs more than 2,000 pounds (900 kilograms). The bisons horns are short and black. In the male they are thick at the base and taper abruptly to sharp points as they curve outward and upward; the females horns are more slender.
Species: American bison, Bison bison
Location: Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Image ID: 13134
Hermit crab. Hermit crabs wear shells to protect their soft abdomens, which are asymmetrical and curved to fit the spiral shape of their shell. Like all crabs, hermit crabs are decapods; they have five pairs of legs, including a pair of claws. One claw is much larger than the other, the hermit crab uses it for defense and food shredding while it uses the smaller claw for eating. The second and third pairs of legs help the crab walk, and the last two pairs hold the hermit crab in its shell.
Species: Hermit crab, Pagurus
Image ID: 13693
Grunt sculpin. Grunt sculpin have evolved into its strange shape to fit within a giant barnacle shell perfectly, using the shell to protect its eggs and itself.
Species: Grunt sculpin, Rhamphocottus richardsoni
Image ID: 13724
Grunt sculpin poised in a barnacle shell. Grunt sculpin have evolved into its strange shape to fit within a giant barnacle shell perfectly, using the shell to protect its eggs and itself.
Species: Grunt sculpin, Rhamphocottus richardsoni
Image ID: 13725
Grunt sculpin poised in a barnacle shell. Grunt sculpin have evolved into its strange shape to fit within a giant barnacle shell perfectly, using the shell to protect its eggs and itself.
Species: Grunt sculpin, Rhamphocottus richardsoni
Image ID: 13726
Grunt sculpin. Grunt sculpin have evolved into its strange shape to fit within a giant barnacle shell perfectly, using the shell to protect its eggs and itself.
Species: Grunt sculpin, Rhamphocottus richardsoni
Image ID: 13727
Grunt sculpin. Grunt sculpin have evolved into its strange shape to fit within a giant barnacle shell perfectly, using the shell to protect its eggs and itself.
Species: Grunt sculpin, Rhamphocottus richardsoni
Image ID: 13728
Grunt sculpin. Grunt sculpin have evolved into its strange shape to fit within a giant barnacle shell perfectly, using the shell to protect its eggs and itself.
Species: Grunt sculpin, Rhamphocottus richardsoni
Image ID: 13729
Grunt sculpin. Grunt sculpin have evolved into its strange shape to fit within a giant barnacle shell perfectly, using the shell to protect its eggs and itself.
Species: Grunt sculpin, Rhamphocottus richardsoni
Image ID: 13730
Grunt sculpin. Grunt sculpin have evolved into its strange shape to fit within a giant barnacle shell perfectly, using the shell to protect its eggs and itself.
Species: Grunt sculpin, Rhamphocottus richardsoni
Image ID: 13731