Time is a butcher's knife? A barn owl will be silent when seeing it, and a porcupine will cry when seeing it.

When you look through your childhood photos, have you ever felt that time is a butcher knife or a carving knife? Today we will take stock of which friends in nature have been butchered.

Butcher knife series

The boxfish (Ostracion cubicus) was a child star when it was young. Its bright yellow body is covered with black polka dots and it is very popular in aquariums.

Cute boxfish juvenile | François Libert zsispeo / Flickr

As it grows, the boxfish becomes more and more rectangular and its body color changes drastically: the male fish turns into a cyberpunk blue, while the female fish replaces the black spots with leopard spots.

Adult female fish wearing leopard print | Derek Keats / wikimedia

The great spiny weasel (Acanthonus armatus) lives in the deep sea at a depth of 1,000 to 4,000 meters. The young fish have long, flowing fins and look quite stunning.

The baby giant spiny mullet is quite beautiful | Michael Patrick O'Neill Photography

But when it grows up, it becomes a mass that is difficult to distinguish. As the saying goes, deep-sea fish cannot see each other, so they grow randomly.

Adult giant spiny mullet photographed in the deep sea | NOAA

When it comes to mammals, the main difference between juveniles and adults is hair, and the animal with the most unique hairstyle is the porcupine. The baby Bolivian dangling-tailed porcupine (Coendou prehensilis) is covered with more than three centimeters of brown hair, just like a stuffed toy - but don't hold it, because under the hair are more than one centimeter long spikes.

Newborn curly-tailed porcupine | Rawpixel

When it grows up, it will change into a black and white punk spiked outfit.

Adult curly-tailed porcupine | rawpixel

The cute baby seals that have charmed millions of people online are mostly harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus). When they are young, they are furry white balls, like glutinous rice balls.

Harp seal | Matthieu Godbout / wikimedia

When they grow up, harp seals will change their fur to short ones that fit their bodies. The color changes from pure white to gray and black. The head-to-body ratio also changes, and they are no longer as round and cute as before.

Stretch your neck | Lysogeny / wikimedia

Carving knife series

But there are also some friends who, instead of killing them with a big knife, spend time to carve them up with meticulous care, making them more and more beautiful as they grow up, such as the tiger beetle (Cicindelidae). The larvae of the tiger beetle are so ugly that both humans and insects hate them. Because of the bulge on their backs, they are also called hunchback beetles or camel beetles. There is a hook on this bulge, and when they hide in the cave, they use the hook to hook the cave wall to avoid being dragged out and embarrassing everyone (wrong).

Tiger beetle larva | cotinis pcoin / Flickr

But once it emerges as an adult, it changes into colorful elytra, becoming a beautiful and agile predator.

Adult tiger beetle | Ian Kirk / wikimedia

The chicks of the barn owl (Tyto alba) look like aliens.

Barn Owl chick standing up | Hank Campbell / Flickr

Although the Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) is not as creepy, it also looks like a beggar.

A Snowy Owl chick that has not fully molted | Tambako the Jaguar tambako / Flickr

After changing into adult bird feathers, they all become shiny and cute creatures.

Apple-faced barn owl | Pixabay

Cool Snowy Owl | Pixabay

The chicks of the colorful munia (Erythrura gouldiae) have brightly colored bumps on the corners of their mouths, which looks very strange. This is a signal to the bird parents to feed them.

Colorful Munia chick | Camille Gillet / wikimedia

As an adult, its color remains bright, but becomes as bright and cute as a crayon.

Adult colorful munia | chapmankj75 / wikimedia

The kea (Nestor notabilis), an endangered species unique to New Zealand, is not very good-looking, but its brightly colored feathers are eye-catching when it spreads its wings.

Handsome back | pxhere

However, its chicks are a rare gem in the parrot world.

The zoo is feeding the little parrots | Paradise Park and JungleBarn Cornwall / youtube

Wombats (Phascolomidae) are incredibly cute, and their babies are adorable too, but what we often see online are fully grown wombat babies.

Tasmanian wombat Vombatus ursinus | Dmitry Brant / wikimedia

Don't forget that the young of marsupials are very incompletely developed, and wombats must go through a bald "awful development" stage during their growth.

Wombats breeding at Taronga Zoo | Taronga Zoo Sydney / youtube

Of course, these judgments on the beauty and ugliness of animals are all subjective aesthetics of humans. For the animals themselves, their appearance at different times actually has its adaptive significance.

Moreover, it is difficult to draw the bones of a tiger, and you can’t know the heart by knowing the face. It is biased to judge the likes and dislikes of anything based on the beauty or ugliness of the first impression. Konrad Lorenz, the founder of animal behavior, once said that when he saw chameleons, pufferfish, anteaters and other animals, he didn’t think they looked funny. They were all the magical results of evolution, and he only had respect for them.

Author: Calendar Girl

Editor: pee pee shrimp

This article comes from the Species Calendar, welcome to forward

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