Our photo of the day comes with moving images of a daddy longlegs that you will likely never forget.
Behold the bunny harvestman! This fabulous shot of Metagryne bicolumnata comes from regular TreeHugger photo contributor Andreas Kay, who is busy documenting the biodiversity of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
Kay explains that despite this fanciful creature's spider-bunny appearance, it is not actually a spider (or a bunny, for that matter), but rather a daddy longlegs. Coming from the family of Cosmetidae in the order of Opiliones (colloquially known as harvestmen or daddy longlegs), they may superficially seem similar to spiders, however they are not closely related to spiders' order Araneae.
He adds, "Contrary to a common belief Harvestman do not have venom glands and are absolutely harmless. Harvestmen have been around for at least 400 million years and lived even before the dinosaurs."
Photos of this critter are wonderful enough, but wait until you see it in action in the short video below that Kay filmed as well. It is extraordinary. It looks like some kind of cute bat-meets-bunny being carted around on a surreal leggy machine. Seeing wonders of nature as remarkable as this little daddy longlegs can have a profound effect – and if nothing else, instill an appreciation of the incredible diversity of flora and fauna quietly doing their fabulous things deep in the rainforest of Ecuador.
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