Rain brings life, especially in arid environments. Like this one creature, they wait for the right moment to appear. The three-eyed animal appears in the late July rainy season in northern Arizona, United States.
The discovery occurred in an ancient ceremonial field at Wupatki National Monument, near Flagstaff, Arizona, United States. The field was filled with water after days of rain in Wupatki. The Wupatki National Monument Facebook page shared the moment on July 26.
"One can clearly see that this field could have been used as a water reservoir 900 years ago. Wildlife still comes and drinks from here," wrote Lauren Carter, Lead Interpretation Ranger Wupatki National Monument, quoted from Live Science.
When the water can stay in the pond long enough, the tadpoles start arriving. Carter thinks this makes sense, as toads can emerge from their burrows to lay eggs when they become aware of the conditions conducive to raising young.
But the reports from the guards of the national monument kept coming, so Carter decided to check it himself. As it turned out, what he found was far more interesting. Not only tadpoles that are there, there are also other creatures.
"We kept getting reports of tadpoles in the ancient field pond. I checked directly there, scooped up the creatures with my hands without expecting anything. Then I saw a strange animal, what is it? I don't know," he said.
The creature in his hand looks like a fossil, is pink in color, is shaped like a horseshoe crab or Indonesian horseshoe crab, and has three eyes. Carter soon realized that they were Triops, also known as 'tadpole shrimp' or 'dinosaur shrimp'. Triops means 'three eyes' in Greek.
The findings were posted on the Wupatki National Monument Facebook page. In his post it is said that the tadpole shrimp creatures, also known as Triops, are not technically tadpoles or shrimp, but they are crustaceans.
"Triops is a genus of small crustaceans in the order Notostraca. They live in spring ponds in Africa, Australia, Asia, South America, Europe, and parts of North America. They are sometimes called living fossils because their external appearance has not changed much since the Triassic period .
Crustaceans can live in such fusing conditions because they have very special adaptations that allow their eggs to survive in dry places for long periods of time. These tiny horseshoe crabs appear to lie in wait until the puddles of water are long enough for the eggs to hatch.
Then, they devour themselves, grow to maturity in just a week, reproduce, and lay more eggs to repeat the cycle. They also serve as food for birds such as nighthawks that live around monuments.
"Triops is just another example of how even under the toughest conditions, life finds its way," Carter said.
In a comment below the post, Wupatki National Monument also explains that crustaceans are on average two to three inches long and their eggs have been observed to remain dry for up to 27 years before hatching.
They also said that although the field had been filled with water for a week for the past four years, they had never seen Triops before. The guards of the monument area don't know how much longer they will have to wait for the next rainy season to see these amazing creatures again.
