Why Do Some Male Orangutans Have a Flange While Others Do Not?

It might not have been keeping you awake at night but here’s a question.  Why do some male orangutans have a flange – that big flap of skin around their faces – while others don’t? The answer is we probably know the why but only possibly the how.  The Ark in Space has the story, and yes – it is all about the passing on of genes but there's more.  Even if you have a flange, as an orangutan you still would not be out of the woods (which, if they could speak, would probably not be the idiom they would use as generally, they seem to like being in the woods…).

Image Credit LK-GA

10 Amazing Recently Discovered Facts about Spiders

Spider threesome anybody? This is just one of the strange (and possibly disturbing) recently discovered facts about spiders you can read about on our sibling site, Ark in Space.  Yes, one species of spider does engage in the occasional ménage a trois but the reason why neither of the boys loses out might make you go ‘ew’. As a number of facts are about the wild thing, if you are of a sensitive nature you may wish to look away!

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The Greatest Cats In Movies. Ever.

As the internet seems, largely, to have been created to accommodate pictures and videos of cats it seems only fair that Kuriositas gets in on the act.  This video by Burger Fiction features the greatest cats to have appeared on film – both live action and animated.  Think about it, cats in movies. People love movies and people love cats. So here they are together on the internet. What a purrrrrrfect combination, don't you think?

Based on True Events

There comes a time in any relationship when something akin to this occurs – and after that you could maintain that metaphorically at least, the honeymoon is over.  Written and directed by Gary Allen this speaks volumes without using any words.  It is almost a contemporary reading of the incredibly verbose The Lady's Dressing Room by Jonathan Swift. Centuries apart and using different media, the horror nevertheless remains the same.

Maiden Light - Fabric Dancing on the Edge

“In this project there are a few risks,” says Ashleigh, the aerial fabric dancer taking her performance into new territory in the Flatirons of Boulder, Colorado.  Here, follow the large team of riggers, rock-climbers, photographers, videographers (including produces Craig Muderlak and Tim Davis) as they help to realize Ashleigh’s ambition – to dance without a harness hundreds of meters above the ground. I just hope she told her mother about this afterwards.

Writer's Block

If you have something to finish off, an essay, a letter, that novel - then if you don’t get it finished soon you may well end up on Writer’s Block.

Set in a prison for criminally poor writers, this animated short by Wonky Films follows a gang of cons who get a hold of the script to their own lives and attempt to re-write it in order to make their escape.

Elefante

Manuel is stuck in a monotonous job, has only one friend that he cannot stand, and his family despises him. Everything will change when the doctor diagnoses him with a rare disease - Manuel is going to turn into an elephant.  Written and directed by Pablo Lurcuen this is a bitter-sweet tale of how sometimes simply being a man is not quite enough yet even in our darkest moments there is still the possibility of redemption,.

One Man's Loss

Just when you think it can’t get any worse – it does. Yet for one down and out stepping on a piece of glass turns out to be the best thing that has happened to him for quite a while. Written and directed by Philip Sansom, One Man’s Loss stars Belgian actress Hande Kodja, Tracy Feith as the vagrant and Jeremy Mitchell as the city boy. So, if you are feeling a little down and out today, watch this – and take heart!

Underlapse

A word of warning before you watch this – the makers of this video (Claire&Max) have indicated that this video may make you dizzy.  Underlapse is a visual experience and shows how our brains can be lost without its spatial cues.  The idea of time-lapse turned upside down isn’t something I have come across before but this montage of places around the world (and off it) goes from simply a curiosity to quite dazzling in a few minutes.

Bigger Than Life - Ice Caves

If you have woken up today with the desire to think up and do something that no one else has yet done then don’t bother with being the first person to film ice caves using a drone. A team from Firefight Films recently traveled to Alaska and did just that – producing these remarkable results. Directed by Lion El Aton with cinematography - by Christopher Carson, take a look while you rethink your plans for the day.

If you need any more time while pondering which world-first you will attempt after lunch then why not take a look at Kuriositas’ own feature on ice caves, from 2011.

Mite

You may never look at a carpet the same way again after watching Mite, the new animated short from Walter Volbers.  We start in a hotel corridor and work our way down, down, down to the kingdom of the mite where everything in this tiny world becomes monstrous and huge.

However, in this realm beneath our feet, there are some things which remain the same... the dust gets everywhere!

Kiryoku

For his Senior Thesis at Ringling, Christopher Merlino created Kiryoku - a true motion design piece. The imagery tells a compelling story, while incorporating multiple forms of image-making approaches. The figure is treated live-action footage, while the environments, characters, and visual effects are created with 2D and 3D software. Entrancing.

Eye to Eye with a Manta Ray

You have probably come eye to eye with a manta ray if you have ever visited an aquarium.  Yet what you thought were the eyes might not actually have been them.  The Ark in Space takes a look at this fascinating species with some unusual photographs.  Get up close and personal with the manta ray!

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