[ By Steve in Animals & Habitats, History & Trivia, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
“I vant to suck your blood!” Take a number, Dracula. In fact, the toast of Transylvania is a latecomer to the party – animals have been deriving nourishment from blood long before Bram Stoker, Bela Lugosi or Twilight made the scene. These 10 amazing bloodsucking animal vampires have made sanguinary slurping their cocktail of choice… and hold the vodka, salt and tomato juice!
Mosquitoes
(images via: Magna Mosquito, Famous Monsters and Roadside Attractions)
The most common bloodsucking animal, mosquitoes can be found almost anywhere in the world where standing water and blood-bearing animals co-exist. Not every one of the estimated 3,500 species of mosquito feed on human beings but those who do often spread chronic, deadly diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever and West Nile virus, just to name a few.
(image via: National Geographic)
Popular wisdom states that male mosquitoes drink plant juices while only the females seek out and drink blood. Actually, female mosquitoes also derive sugars and other nutrients from plants, but they require a meal of blood before they can produce and lay their eggs. Nature, you scary!
(images via: Australian Museum, Graeme’s Insects of Townsville and Mosquitoes of Pennsylvania)
Biologists caution that eliminating all mosquitoes from the environment would cause a disastrous disruption of the food chain – below humans, that is. There is hope, however, in the form of Toxorhynchites. Also known as Mosquito Hawks or Mosquito Eaters, Toxorhynchites are the largest known species of mosquito and, thankfully, they don’t suck blood. Instead, their larvae prey on other mosquito larva thus reducing the number of blood-sucking adults in any common area. Some disease researchers have suggested we roll out the red carpet, er, welcome mat for Toxorhynchites. Then again, messing with nature gave us Killer Bees.
Bedbugs
(images via: Mississauga Pest Control and Pest Command)
“Sleep tight, and don’t let the bedbugs bite!” Once the subject of an arcane and archaic folk saying, bedbugs have returned with a vengeance. Hitching rides with air travelers and setting up shop in hotels, taxicabs and even waiting room sofas, bedbugs have exploded into an unexpected and unappealing global scourge. Active by night and utilizing a natural anesthetic in their saliva, bedbugs themselves are rarely seen. Instead, they leave their victims with telltale bite marks and often a profound sense of mental anguish and unease. Bring back DDT? In the case of bedbugs it just might be worth it.
(images via: Popcrunch, KTVU and Boston Herald)
Even Howard Stern has been affected by the bedbug blow-up – the germaphobic radio shock jock had to evacuate his broadcast studios and even his limousine so they could be fumigated following the discovery of bedbugs. (Word to Dave Letterman, better get that comfy guest chair checked out STAT!). One hopes the verminous varmints didn’t do any damage to Stern’s, ahem, Private Parts.
Ticks
(images via: Popbitch, Pest Control RX and The Tick)
Blood-sucking spiders?? Good thing there aren’t… oh wait, Ticks are classified as arachnids so let the screaming begin! Ticks are believed to have originated in the Cretaceous period alongside the last dinosaurs, eventually specializing into distinct variants known today as Deer Ticks, Dog Ticks and Sheep Ticks among others. Ticks are rather revolting on a number of levels, with the exception of The Tick, starring Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld’s Puddy)… he’s kinda cool, for a tick.
(images via: It’s Just SPEAZ, I Write Alot and John Nelson (Just Back))
Ticks in their newborn, six-legged stage are known as Seed Ticks but don’t let their youth deceive you: up to 30,000 Seed Ticks can infest domestic dogs or cats in sudden, mass attacks that can leave their victims at risk of death from rapid blood loss. Sort of like the Spider Scene in the Forbidden Forest from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, domestic pet version.
(image via: Horse Whispers)
Though ticks can spread a host of unpleasant illnesses including Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme Disease and the frighteningly named Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, unlucky Australians have to deal with the Paralysis Tick (Ixodes holocyclus), shown above before and after feeding – yikes!! Bites from this particular tick have been known to cause extreme allergic reactions, “Tick Typhus” and whole-body paralysis. And here you thought the most dangerous thing to come from Australia was Mel Gibson.
Kissing Bugs
(images via: Healthline and Scienceblogs)
Kissing Bugs isn’t the prelude to inter-species insect sex, but a blood-sucking group of Triatomine insects also known as Conenose Bugs or Assassin Bugs. They derive their “friendly” name from their decidedly unfriendly modus of operations: biting people on thin-skinned parts of the face such as the lips and eyelids. The bites are painless, even though the bugs are rather large and can drink a copious amount of blood at a single feeding. Kissing Bugs give as well as receive: they can spread debilitating illnesses such as Chagas Disease with their bites.
(images via: Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm and BBC)
Charles Darwin was one of the first to describe the feeding habits of Kissing Bugs, having become a victim in 1835 while traveling through Argentina. To quote from “The Voyage of the Beagle”, Darwin’s journal of discoveries made in South America and the Galapagos Islands, “At night I experienced an attack (for it deserves no less a name) of the Benchuca, a species of Reduvius, the great black bug of the Pampas. It is most disgusting to feel soft wingless insects, about an inch long, crawling over one’s body.” On the bright side, an ingenious pilot project at the London Zoo employs Kissing Bugs to take blood samples from zoo animals. The natural anesthetic in the Kissing Bug’s saliva ensures the sampling is virtually stress-free for the animals (though likely not, later, for the Kissing Bugs).
Vampire Moths
(images via: Treehugger, Bestof.com, It’s Nature and Junius)
Mothra lives! Moths of the genus Calyptra have evolved the ability to not only drink the blood of vertebrates, but to actively acquire it by biting their victims. It is thought that originally the ancestors of these moths drank fruit juices by piercing the skin of fruit with a straw-like, pointed proboscis. From there it was but a small step to biting mammals, thereby tapping a much more potent source of nutrients. Vampire Moths appear to be expanding their range into more northerly areas due to the ongoing gradual moderation of average temperatures – in other words, Global Warming. Bet you’ll take those shrill enviro-loonies a bit more seriously now, amiright?
(images via: TYWKIWDBI and SciFi Musings)
Unlike mosquitoes, in Vampire Moths it’s the males that do the blood-sucking while the females stick to plant juices and nectar. By the way, if the idea of a blood-sucking moth isn’t off-putting enough, consider that a related species of Calyptra moths drink the tears from the eyes of birds, cattle, buffalo, and sometimes people as a method of acquiring salt… cue the Salt Monster from Star Trek in 3… 2… 1…
Leeches
(images via: The Best Who!, Marine Biology Blog and Benzomatic Photo)
Leeches have come a long way from being the preferred tool of medieval blood-letters to the horror lurking in local streams and ponds… and back to being the preferred tool of modern blood-letters (and the occasional jackass). Yes, leeches are our friends: so-called Leech Therapy utilizes leeches and their blood-thinning enzyme Hirudin to treat a number of illnesses ranging from post-reattachment trauma to treating infertility. Biologists are working on artificial Hirudin dispensers, “mechanical leeches” as it were, to take the place of actual living medicinal leeches (and help find Sarah Connor).
(images via: Stand By Me, MSNBC, Jeremy Silman and Reel Movie News)
“What Jaws did for sharks, Stand By Me did for leeches.” Indeed, though the 1986 film (and the original Stephen King novel) was packed with powerful, gut-wrenching scenes, not much can top poor Gordie discovering that “the grandfather of all leeches” had put the bite on the family jewels. As for Attack of the Giant Leeches, let’s just say it sucks – big time. Bing!
Lamprey Eels
(images via: CNSweb, Scienceblogs, Katu.com and Duke U Biology)
Lampreys are marine creatures that have evolved to resemble blood-sucking buzz saws… and you don’t want to be a tree! Scientists classify lampreys as jawless fishes but don’t be fooled: they might be jawless but they make up for it by having a wide, circular mouth lined with rows of wickedly sharp teeth. Lampreys can grow up to 40 inches (100cm) in length, often longer than their prey. When a lamprey locks onto a fish with its oral disk and begins gnawing through living flesh in search of blood, the victim is advised to give up finding Nemo and start finding religion.
(images via: MTU.edu and Quigley’s Cabinet)
Not all lampreys are carnivorous, and attacks on humans are rare. Speaking of “rare”, lampreys are considered to be a delicacy in parts of Europe where they have been described as being more “meaty” in consistency compared to other fish. No less than Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is said to have enjoyed a Coronation Pie made with lampreys. One imagines she felt eel-ated.
Candiru (Vampire Catfish)
(images via: Jorymon and Oceana)
The Candiru (Vandellia cirrhosa), sometimes called the Vampire Catfish, is a type of parasitic freshwater fish found only in the Amazon River. Candiru are hard to detect in their natural habitat, being semi-translucent and small in size. Candiru are endowed with finely tuned sensors that pick up traces of ammonia in water, typically emitted from the gills of passing fish. The Candiru follows the ammonia trail and uses barbed spines on its gill covers to lodge itself in its victim’s gills, drawing blood whenever it feels hungry.
(images via: Candiru/Carnero Catfish and Observations of a Nerd)
Not all ammonia trails lead back to fish gills, unfortunately, and this should be noted by those who would attempt to answer nature’s call while immersed waist-deep in the Amazon. Though anecdotal tales of Candiru lodging themselves in human urinary tracts go back centuries, there is only one documented case in modern times (1997). Silvio Barbossa (above), the male victim, survived 2 hours of surgery required to remove the 13.4cm (5.5 inch!) long Candiru from its final resting place in his scrotum. The Candiru (shown above, after removal) was not so “lucky”.
Vampire Finches
(images via: Ashleyjuhl, The Fat Finch and The Ever So Strange Animal Almanac)
Vampires and Boobies? It’s more likely than you think. Charles Darwin used the dozen or so different species of Finch found on the Galapagos Islands to illustrate his newly formulated theory of evolution in his ground-breaking book The Origin Of Species, but even ol’ Chuckie D had to be thrown for a loop by the Vampire Finch (Geospiza difficilis septentrionalis), however. It’s thought that this finch first evolved a symbiotic relationship with the islands’ seabirds, grooming them of parasites and eating what they found. Eventually though, the sharp-beaked critters drew blood in the course of their diligent probing and decided that blood tasted better than bugs. Kinda makes sense, no?
Check out this video to see the Vampire Finch doing what, for literary and movie vampires, comes supernaturally:
Vampires and Boobies, via NationalGeographic
Vampire Bats
(images via: National Geographic, Scienceblogs, IMP Awards and Mockingwords)
Three different species of Vampire Bat are exclusively hematophagous, meaning they feed only on blood: Common Vampire Bats (Desmodus rotundus), Hairy-legged Vampire Bats (Diphylla ecaudata) and White-winged Vampire Bats (Diaemus youngi). They are proficient li’l devils: in one year, a 100-strong Vampire Bat colony can drink the blood of 25 cows (or 2.5 Rosie O’Donnells). Moo-ving on, Vampire Bats can be found from Mexico south to Argentina and Brazil in South America, though who in their right mind would want to look for them – especially on a dark, moonlit night near the end of October. Those who do should keep these words in mind: Hokus Cadabra! Or is it Abra Capokus? Heck, try ‘em both, what could happen?
(images via: Slashfood, Ed, Ken and assorted Riff Raff and Sodahead)
Bram Stoker, the author who originated the character of Count Dracula in his 1897 novel of the same name, was likely inspired in part by stories of Vampire Bats and descriptions of the twin puncture marks left by their canine teeth – or if you prefer, fangs (you’re welcome).
(images via: Jogos Para Celulares, Vampire Legends and PCMM)
As for Vampire Bats themselves, they share an interesting connection with Stoker by way of their feeding style. Vampire bats do not actually “suck” the blood of their victims, instead simply lapping up the blood that oozes from their bites. Normally such blood would rapidly clot when exposed to air but Vampire Bats employ an enzyme in their saliva that keeps fresh blood from clotting. The substance, named by a somewhat over-enthusiastic researcher, is called… Draculin.
(image via: The Stranger)
Count Dracula may have exercised a form of animal magnetism on his (mainly female) victims but the attraction of blood as a source of nourishment makes practical sense from the point of view of certain creatures. Irregardless of what Jeff Probst says at Tribal Council, blood gives life and so-called “animal vampires” merely ask that you share a little. So have a heart… and be thankful they don’t ask for THAT.
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(Images via: Ryan Photographic, Dachshund Love, Progressives, Animal Discovery, BRGPS)
The old adage of “treating others as you would like to be treated” especially holds true f…
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It all started with a trip to Trader Joe’s. Jenni Ware had just rung up her groceries, which came to a total of $207. But as she reached into her purse, she discovered that she’d left her wallet at home.
Ware was about to go home grocery-less when she received a kind offer from the stranger in line behind her, a woman named Carolee Hazard. Hazard offered to pay Ware’s entire bill, simply asking her to send her a check to cover the cost.
The next day, Hazard received a check for $300—$93 more than she’d lent to Ware.
“I didn’t know what to do with the money,” Hazard told USA Today. “I’d thought to mail a check back to Jenni, but in the day and age of Facebook, I turned to my friends to decide what to do with the money instead,”
A friend suggested donating the cash to charity. Hazard thought that was a great idea, and selected the Second Harvest Food Bank, matching the $93 with an additional $93 of her own.
Several of Hazard’s friends were so inspired by her actions that they decided to make their own $93 donations. Soon, their friends were following suit. The group of philanthropists created “the 93 Dollar Club,” and a Facebook page to go along with it. A year since that fateful day at Trader Joe’s, the club has raised more than $100,000 to fight hunger in America.
Now that their story is getting so much attention, Hazard has a bold new goal: doubling donations to $200,000. Want to help? Check out the Facebook page for more info.
Source: Gimundo
Beth
Okay, I had a contest yesterday. I didn’t have the chance to post our Positive Quote Wednesday. So here you have it: Positive Quote Thursday.
I didn’t win the contest…at all! So today, admittedly self-involved, I’m posting quotes on losing. We’ve all been there, right?
A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.
Billie Jean King
A good balance of winning and losing is important. If you just win all the time, you won’t get anything out of it; having some tough losses can be really important.
Andrew Shue
A losing trade, I assure you, sir: literature is a drug.
George Borrow
About the only time losing is more fun than winning is when you’re fighting temptation.
Tom Wilson
As I said, I began losing confidence in my instincts, which is tough and very bad for an instinctive person.
Kim Novak
Bambi has a profound effect on children because it’s about losing your mother.
Christine Baranski
Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he’s losing; nobody wants you to quit when you’re ahead.
Jackie Robinson
Being a decathlete is like having ten girlfriends. You have to love them all, and you can’t afford losing one.
Daley Thompson
Being an only child and losing both my parents at an early age, I have found that the friends I have made over the years are the people who help me get through life, good times and bad.
Fannie Flagg
Bjorn was a different breed, I threw my best material at him, but he would never smile, but that added to the charm when he played me and Mac. We were going nuts and losing our mind and he was sitting back like he was on a Sunday stroll.
Jimmy Connors
Extremely strong, effective, tenacious, and powerful political networks can be built when you fight losing battles as well as when you win.
Patricia Ireland
For myself, losing is not coming second. It’s getting out of the water knowing you could have done better. For myself, I have won every race I’ve been in.
Ian Thorpe
I also think stress is related to control. When you’re in charge of your life, you tend to not care about losing control of things that don’t really matter like traffic jams.
Marilu Henner
I don’t gamble, because winning a hundred dollars doesn’t give me great pleasure. But losing a hundred dollars pisses me off.
Alex Trebek
I have no fear of losing my life – if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it.
Steve Irwin
Beth
[ By Steve in Animals & Habitats, Nature & Ecosystems, Science & Research. ]
Seeing is believing? Not so fast there – these 10 amazing animals believe they’re doing mighty fine without seeing their surroundings, so much so that they don’t waste precious resources growing eyes. It’s a strategy that makes, er, sense when living in an environment where vision is impractical, unnecessary and even impossible.
Leptodirus Beetle
(images via: ICSB-2010, Wikipedia France and Petkovanja in Pondelkovanja)
So-called troglobites – not to be confused with troglodites, or cave men – are creatures that have adapted their physical forms to best suit the environment of caves, typically to the point where they cannot survive when removed from said caves. The first troglobite to be described in scientific literature was the Leptodirus beetle (Leptodirus hochenwartii), back in 1832.
(image via: Wikipedia)
Leptodirus beetles average about 4/10 of an inch (1cm) in length and are thought to survive by feeding on the carcasses of deceased cave creatures. Found only in several limestone caves in southeastern Europe’s Dinaric Alps, Leptodirus beetles are considered to be a vulnerable species as their ecological requirements span a very narrow range.
Kauai Cave Wolf Spider
(images via: Earlham College, Animalaqua, Bishop Museum and Dreamstime)
The Kauai Cave Wolf Spider (Adelocosa anops), discovered in 1971, can be found on the Hawaiian island of Kauai and inside five caves where only about two dozen in total are thought to live. The caves were formed between 3.6 and 5.6 million years ago so the spider has had several million years to evolve into its current eyeless state – “anops” means eyeless, by the way. The creature relies upon a finely tuned sense of touch and the ability to note minute vibrations when stalking prey within the volcanic caves’ pitch-black environs. That’s a normal Wolf Spider at above right, compared with A. Anops on the left.
(image via: Red Orbit)
Though biologists and environmentalists may bemoan the exceptional rarity of the Kauai Cave Wolf Spider, spelunkers and arachnophobics (or both) might feel the opposite: this intriguing eyeless spider is quite large, measuring over 3 inches (8cm) across. It’s considered to be harmless to humans, if that’s any help when you’re exploring the deepest depths of a Kauai cave and the battery in your flashlight dies.
Kentucky Cave Shrimp
(images via: USGS and Unusual Kentucky)
The Kentucky Cave Shrimp (Palaemonias ganteri) is one of a number of eyeless and/or sightless troglobite shrimps that have successfully exploited lightless cave environments the world over.
(image via: The Infinite Sphere)
Living mainly in Kentucky’s famed Mammoth Cave and other subterranean caves in the area, the Kentucky Cave Shrimp is considered to be endangered due to above-ground dams and canals that have affected the natural rate of water flow and sedimentation in the Mammoth Cave system. The shrimp, which are both eyeless and transparent, grow to a length of 1.25 inches (3.15cm) and are closely related to other cave-dwelling shrimp found in Texas, Alabama and Florida.
(image via: Ben’s Biz Blog)
The rarity of the Kentucky Cave Shrimp and the fact that its existence is threatened by groundwater pollution has made the shrimp somewhat of a poster-child for environmental activism and a local cause celeb in the area of Mammoth Cave. In 2009, the newly formed Bowling Green baseball club staged a Name The Team contest and although “Hot Rods” was the winning (or at least, chosen) entry, Cave Shrimp received at least some votes. Pity it didn’t win – just imagine the above awesome logo on players’ uniforms.
Blind Cave Crayfish
(images via: USGS, Dayo Scuba and ScienceRay)
Almost 40 different species of Cave Crayfish live in various cave ecosystems scattered across the United States alone. Common to most of these species is eyelessness, lack of pigmentation and very long lifespans – in some cases estimated at over 75 years! Cave Crayfish are among the largest troglobites, reaching lengths of almost 4 inches (10cm).
(image via: Dayo Scuba)
Cave Crayfish have evolved over millions of years to be totally in sync with their exceptionally demanding environment. As such, they can be looked at as “canaries in the coalmine” – environmental indicators as to the health of the pristine, naturally filtered groundwater in which they live.
Blind Cave Crab
(images via: Daily Mail UK, DBS/NUS and Biotagua)
Like many troglobites, Cave Crabs exist in dark, flooded cave environments around the globe. They share a number of common evolutionary adaptations, such as eyelessness and depigmentation that gives them a ghostly appearance – not that anyone (or anything) saw them before humans with lights and cameras invaded their space.
(image via: Biotagua)
Cave Crabs are often found around the inlets where freshwater enters caves, bringing with it food for the opportunistic crabs to eat. The Cave Crab in the topmost image above, Sesarmoides jacobsoni, was discovered in a cave located on the Indonesian island of Java.
Blind Cave Fish
(images via: FOX News, NPS and National Geographic)
The Blind Cave Fish, or Mexican Tetra (Astyanax mexicanus) has evolved from normal Tetra fish that can be found today in the Rio Grande river and other rivers and streams in Mexico and Texas. Growing to about 4 inches (10cm) in length, the Mexican Tetra displays extreme albinism, a semi-transparent skin and most shocking: complete eyelessness. Such traits are shared by the newly discovered blind cave fish Milyeringa veritas (above, lowest photo), a 2-inch (5cm) long eyeless fish found in Australian freshwater aquifers.
(image via: Wikipedia)
Mexican Tetras are one of the only cave-dwelling troglobitic creatures that are not endangered – they can even be bought and maintained as unique aquarium fish! Owners report that though completely blind, Mexican Tetras kept in aquariums use their highly developed non-visual sense organs to avoid bumping into aquarium objects and walls, and
Brazilian Blind Characid
(images via: BBC)
Stygichthys typhlops, a blind relative of the fearsome piranha, may be “the most threatened underground fish species in Brazil” according to ichthyologist Dr. Cristiano Moreira of the Federal University of Sao Paulo. The fish lives in a single, 15.5 mile (25km) long aquifier in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais.
(image via: Treehugger)
Villagers drawing water from wells in the town of Jaiba reported seeing strange pale fish swimming in the well. Maybe it’s just me but when you’ve got piranhas in the well it’s time to think about moving, amiright?
Texas Blind Salamander
(images via: Academic.ru, Silverfish Attack and Why Evolution Is True)
The Texas Blind Salamander (Eurycea rathbuni) is an extreme example of eyelessness as an adaptation to low or zero light conditions in underground environments. Growing up to 5 inches (13cm) in length, this rare and unusual creature is found in just one location: the San Marcos Pool of the Edwards Aquifer in Hays, Texas.
(image via: CaliforniaHerps)
Texas Blind Salamanders are amphibians and they lay their eggs in water. They eat snails, amphipods and blind shrimp – a case of the blind eating the blind, pardon the pun.
Olm
(images via: Wikipedia and ScienceBlogs)
The Olm (Proteus anguinus) is the only member of its genus and the only troglobitic vertebrate on the European mainland. Like the Leptodirus beetle, it can be found in the freshwater caves of southeastern Europe’s Dinaric Alps. First described in 1768 but not recognized as a purely cave-dwelling animal, the Olm is known to people in Slovenia and Croatia as the “human fish” due to its pale, pinky coloration.
(images via: Arkive, Oracle ThinkQuest and Posing Facts)
The Olm’s snakelike body averages 8 to 12 inches (20–30 cm) in length with occasional examples reaching 16 inches (40cm). As one of the symbols of Slovenia, the Olm was featured on some of the country’s coins before they switched to the Euro.
(images via: Wired and Nature Manchester)
Though it may superficially resemble the Texas Blind Salamander and like it is completely eyeless, the Olm is a completely different animal. It is neotenic, remaining in the gill-breathing larval stage its entire life (which may be as long as 100 years!). Olms also have 3 toes on the forelimbs but only 2 on their hind limbs. Here’s a short video on the Olm from the acclaimed PBS television program Nature:
Land of the Falling Lakes – Alien Creatures, via PBS
Madagascar Blind Snake
(images via: IO9 and WebEcoist)
The Madagascar Blind Snake (Xenotyphlops mocquardi) is one of 15 different kinds of blind snakes that call Madagascar their home, though Xenotyphlops takes sightlessness to a whole new level. In fact, unless this 10-inch (25cm) long, pencil-thin burrowing reptile opens its mouth – or happens to be in motion – it’s tough to know which end is which. While not eyeless per se, the Madagascar Blind Snake is negatively phototaxic, meaning it avoids light and when brought to the surface immediately tries to burrow back underground. Xenotyphlops and its blind relatives are the only snakes that eat insects exclusively, homing in on ant and termite nests with a highly developed sense of smell.
(image via: MSNBC)
The Madagascar Blind Snake was actually discovered twice: once in 1905 and again one hundred years later after not being seen at all in the interim. It obviously has perfected the art of deception; the genus is believed to have split off from its ancestral line about 155 million years ago when Madagascar was part of the composite Gondwanaland continent.
(image via: Filmcritic)
Some like to think “the eyes have it” but these 10 amazing eyeless animals prove without a doubt there’s more than one way of having it; a way that doesn’t depend on seeing what’s wanted. It’s a vision thing… that doesn’t require actual vision. You see? They don’t, and that’s cool.
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Being transparent doesn’t mean these animals have nothing to hide. On the contrary, their lack of pigment provides many benefits – even if you can’t see them.
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Animal rescue workers at Hampshire, England’s Hawk Conservancy Trust came up with a novel and wonderful use for an owl hand puppet that had nothing to do with children: feeding orphaned owl chicks.
Two chicks and one egg were brought to the center recently, after their nest was inadvertently damaged by farmers. The egg hatched within days of arrival, and the three tawny owls were named Brownie, Woody, and Ivy. The tiny birds were all healthy—but the rescue center wouldn’t be able to release them into the wild if they fed them by hand.
“Owls imprint whatever they first see, this means if they see a human feeding them they will trust humans from that moment on,” Gale Gould of the Hawk Conservancy Trust told The Daily Mail. “These little owls are wild and we want them to remain wild – that’s why we created Super Mum.”
“Super Mum” is the Center’s name for their handmade owl puppet, which Center workers and volunteers use to feed the three baby birds. Super Mum has a pair of tweezers that sticks out of her nose, and the baby birds’ food is placed in the tweezers. For the babies, it’s very similar to how they would take food directly from the mother’s beak in the wild.
The babies will need to continue eating from the hand puppet for the next two months, but after that, they’ll be free to fly off and build their own nests, thanks to Super Mum and her friends.
Source: Gimundo
Beth
When asked how long he has loved music, 8 year old kidney transplant survivor Rishi Nair will told the Today Show’s Bob Dotson – “Since I was zero.” Maybe that’s why this remarkable boy, who prefers to go by his superhero name The Peaceful Warrior, was able to find the power to make the world better in his music.
As Rishi puts it, “My special power is to fight fear, sadness and pain with music.”
This superhero was born with no working kidneys. He was stuck in Seattle Children’s Hospital, tethered to machines, until his mother gave him one of her kidneys, just a few days before his fifth birthday.
“I could hear him shout,” mom Mary Lyn Nair recalls to Dotson. “ ‘I’m free! I’m free! I’m absolutely FREE!’ They took the IVs out and he asked, ‘Where’s my drum?’ ”
That freedom is only temporary, Mary’s kidney will not last forever. Ten years is the minimum, according to Rishi’s doctors. While Rishi’s family can only hope that another solution can be found before the kidney gives out, in the meantime they’ve decided to focus on their little boy’s irrepressibly joyful spirit. And their getting a little help from his friends.
In the years before his kidney transplant gave him his freedom, Rishi learned how to play instruments from all over the world. He was even taught how to use the Australian didgeridoo by an Aborigine. Lots of remarkable people have helped Rishi learn to use his superpowers, including Grammy winning composer Mateo Messina, who met Rishi when he was visiting the hospital to entertain the children there.
Mateo, like everyone else who meets Rishi, was instantly drawn to the child. He asked Rishi to help him compose a song in the “Symphony for Superheroes” that he was writing.
“We both had an idea what the song should be about,” Mateo says. He nods at Rishi, who proceeds to sing: “When I play the world feels better … Everyone is soothed.”
Mateo and Rishi performed their work with the Seattle Symphony, and that one performance raised $189,000 for sick kids whose families can’t afford treatment.
Just a couple of superheroes out saving the world.
Watch him in action!
Beth
Eva Markvoort, a beautiful, vivacious 25-year-old woman with dyed ruby-red hair from Vancouver, wrote a popular blog by the name of 65 Red Roses. Contrary to what you might think, the blog wasn’t about gardening: the title was her childhood mispronounciation of the disease she suffered from throughout her life, cystic fibrosis.
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a hereditary disease caused by a gene mutation, and can cause extreme difficulty breathing, sinus infections, and many other painful side effects. It affects about one in every 2,000 people. Although CF can often be managed by medications and medical treatments, most people who suffer from the disease live in frequent discomfort, and often die in their 20s or 30s.
Although Eva spent much of her life in the hospital, kept away from other patients because of the risk of infection, she was a constant presence in the lives of friends and strangers alike through her blog. She began posting on her blog in 2006, and began connecting with CF patients around the world through her writing. Soon, her blog drew an even larger audience, and she used it as a platform to show the world what it was like living with CF. It’s now reached over a million readers.
Despite the pain the disease caused her, Eva felt constantly blessed. She loved her family, her friends, and the readers who embraced her. Nearly every day, she’d post messages sharing her happiness for all the ordinary moments of life that so many of us take for granted, as well as her fear and frustration in coping with her disease.
In 2007, a group of filmmakers took an interest in Eva’s blog, and created a documentary movie of her life, also called 65 Red Roses, in which Eva allowed to see the harsh realities of CF like frequent coughing, vomiting, and month-long hospital stays. The film had a happy ending: Eva, who had been progressively sicker over the course of the shoot, got the double lung transplant she had been waiting for. She would be able to breathe again.
Sadly, things eventually took a turn for the worse, and her body began to reject the new lungs. In January, Eva uploaded a YouTube video to her blog: “I have some news today. It’s kinda tough to hear, but I can say it with a smile,” she said. “My life is ending.”
But Eva had none of the self-pity that you would expect from someone who’d been handed a death sentence at such a young age. “I think I’m very lucky, because I’ve loved more than you could possibly think, could possibly imagine,” she said. “So I’m celebrating that: celebrating my life.”
Eva passed away on March 27th, but before her death, she was honored with the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s prestigious Doug Summerhayes Award for her work raising awareness of the disease through her blog and documentary. She was also awarded a college diploma from the University of Victoria, which she had fallen a few credits short of graduating because of her constant illnesses. But neither of these honors meant as much to her as her “wall of love”: the thousands of letters, pictures, and gifts she received from her supporters around the planet, many of whom suffered from CF themselves.
Beth
[ By Steve in 7 Wonders Series, Animals & Habitats, Nature & Ecosystems. ]
/> There may not be a One-horned One-eyed Flying Purple People Eater but there ARE a lot of actual purple animals around – one might say there are a bunch. Color them purple, lavender, mauve, orchid or violet, these colorful animals add a rich, distinctive tone to nature’s varied palette. Isn’t that grape?
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Purple Emperor Butterfly
(images via: Butterfly-Conservation and BBC)
Purple Emperors are large butterflies found in southern England, most of continental Europe and in northern Asia as far east as Korea. How purple are Purple Emperors? That depends on your point of view… literally. The top surfaces of the butterfly’s wings are covered in iridescent scales that refract light toward the indigo blue to deep violent end of the visual spectrum. From certain angles to butterflies display a rich, royal purple tone.
(image via: The Independent)
Purple emperors normally live in forest treetops but males will descend to the forest floor and to roadsides in search of mineral salts. Sources for these essential salts are fresh animal dung or puddles infused with road salt.
Purple Beetles
(images via: Terrapodcast, Ursula Skjonnemand and Jon the Composer)
There are more different kinds of beetles than any other taxonomic order so one would expect to find a plethora of purple beetles. Such is not the case, however, and true purple beetles are noteworthy by their rarity. Er, sorry for the VWs, couldn’t resist.
(image via: Treknature)
In most cases, beetles that appear to be purple display this hue by virtue of iridescence – same technique as Purple Emperors. These beautiful, jewel-like insects display purple hues along with shades of blue and green.
(image via: Cetp)
Most animals use color as either a way to camouflage themselves against predators or to make themselves more visible to those of their own kind. As well, human vision does not register in the ultraviolet area so what appears purple to our eyes is actually irrelevant to the creatures’ actual intent.
Violet Sea Snails
(images via: MESA, Scribbly Gum Wiki and Florida State Parks)
The Violet Sea Snail is one weird gastropod. Its lovely lavender shell is paper-thin and fairly fragile – not really a problem because it spends its entire life floating on the surface of tropical oceans. It manages this by whipping up a froth of bubbles with its foot, then sealing the bubbles in mucus to form a foamy raft.
(image via: Cetp)
Violet snails aren’t just hermaphrodites, they’re protandric hermaphrodites which means they’re born male and turn female – going through “the Change” was never like this. If that’s not weird enough, consider the fact that Violet Sea Snails (when in their male phase) have no penis. Instead, they bundle up their sperm in a little floating package that somehow, somewhere, might happen to bump into a female snail. And we do mean “accidentally” because Violet Sea Snails are blind.
Purple Starfish
(images via: The Marque and Trip Advisor)
Starfish are a varied order of creatures that sport a surprisingly varied range of colors, including some striking hues of purple and violet.
(image via: Valerie Reiss)
It may be that the blue-green tint of seawater screens out some of the redder wavelengths of sunlight, therefore making a starfish that looks purple on dry land much more elusive when viewed underwater.
(image via: NunukPhotos)
The most commonly seen purple starfish is the Ochre Sea Star, found on and around Pacific Ocean coastlines in the intertidal zone. Though starfish, like most echinoderms, incorporate Calcium compounds into their exoskeletons, studies indicate that they will not be overly affected by rising ocean acidification that results from global warming. Good news if you like starfish… or if you ARE one.
Orchid Dotty Back
Orchid Dottybacks are popular aquarium fish and it’s no wonder why: though it only grows to a length of 2 inches (5cm), they add a jolt of brilliant violet to any indoor seascape. Keep in mind, however, that dottybacks are carnivorous and need a steady diet of meat (shrimp will do) to thrive in captivity.
(image via: Zoovisits)
Dottybacks are native to the western Indian Ocean and aren’t always purple – other colloquial names are Magenta Dottyback and Strawberry Dottyback. The Orchid Dottyback goes by a specific latin name: Pseudochromis Fridmani.
Indian Purple Frog
(images via: Scientific American, An Unquiet Mind and ZSL)
A bizarre purple burrowing frog discovered in 2003 doesn’t just look unlike any other frog, it IS unlike them, having split off from a common ancestor approximately 130 million years ago. The frog, Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis, shocked biologists into awarding it status as a new species in a wholly new family of amphibians.
(image via: Arkive)
Nasikabatrachus lives in the Western Ghats region of southern India. The bulbous, bloated, pointy-snouted frog bears the distinction of being the first new family of amphibians to be discovered since 1926. One of the frog’s more unusual features are its turquoise-rimmed tiny eyes… the better to see you with?
Indigo Snake
(images via: Toadaway and UGA)
The Eastern Indigo Snake is North America’s longest snake, though some rattlers can outweigh them. At up to 10 feet (3.05m) long, these Colubrid snakes make an instant impression. As big as they are, few people are familiar with the Eastern Indigo Snake or its southwestern relative, the Texas Indigo Snake, which often does not work to the snake’s advantage and that’s unfortunate: these snakes are immune to rattlesnake venom and will often take on rattlers… for lunch.
(image via: Optics Talk)
Indigo Snakes have smooth scales that reflect light with a measure of iridescence, giving them a deep purple appearance that shifts and shimmers in changing light conditions.
Purple Martin
(images via: Duncraft, Birdzilla and Kiwifoto)
Purple Martins are among America’s best loved birds, and they seem to like us as well. So thoroughly have these largest members of the Swallow family taken to the multistory Martin “apartments” homeowners have set out for them that they prefer living in them to more natural woodland nesting places. Purple Martins migrate and on the return trip will typically send a lone scout ahead to seek out a suitable nesting place. If the scout discovers the birdhouse you’ve set out, the same family group may return to it year after year.
(image via: Alan Murphy Photography)
Purple Martins are strict insect eaters – don’t bother setting out birdseed for them. In return for providing a safe and secure nesting place they will do what martins and swallows do so well: eat copious amounts of bothersome insects.
Pete, the Purple Squirrel
(images via: Tetrapod Zoology and Telegraph UK)
Squirrels aren’t naturally purple, so when a certain Grey Squirrel appeared sporting a distinctive, violet-tinged coat, naturally it attracted a lot of attention from British park-goers. The squirrel, quickly dubbed “Pete”, was seen by a number of witnesses in and around the grounds of Meoncross School in the town of Stubbington, Hampshire, UK.
(image via: Daily Mail UK)
Several theories have been put forth to try and explain how and why Pete the Purple Squirrel displays such an un-squirrel-like hue. One is that he (or she) got into a discarded printer ink cartridge and spread the ink over its fur while grooming. Another states that, like other creatures used as markers in scientific studies of population and distribution, Pete was sprayed with a non-toxic dye in order to make it easier for researchers to track him. If it’s the latter, than Pete should shortly revert to a more typical tint. Nuts!
Pelusa, the Purple Polar Bear
(images via: Drum-Core and Jlong5000)
Last and not least, we present Pelusa, the Purple Polar Bear of the Pampas… not an official name but one that reflects the normally snow white bear’s current abode at the Mendoza, Argentina, zoo. According to Julio Alvarez, a veterinarian at the zoo, “At the moment and for a few days longer Pelusa will look purple because we’ve applied an ointment as a treatment for skin problems.”
(image via: Drum-Core)
Added Alvarez, “This has been used in the past and sometimes it’s even used in human medicine.” Funny, I don’t recall any purple people walking around… then again, if your skin and hair turned bright purple would you even leave the house?
/> Purple is a color that seems to be seen more among species who may be “lower” on the Tree of Life but are, in their favor, more adept at exploiting the myriad possibilities of the color spectrum. We puny humans have to make do with dyed clothing… which may or may not be a point in our favor.
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