11 Weirdest Real-Life Cases of Mass Hysteria

Here’s a collection of some of the weirdest real-life cases of mass hysteria. From witch trials to the Halifax Slasher, they are enough to creep anyone out.
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That Sinking Feeling: The Top 10 Drained Lakes

[ By Steve in Geography & Travel, History & Trivia, Nature & Ecosystems. ]

I like lakes, you like lakes, Luke Luck likes lakes, you get the picture but when lakes leak with little or lack of warning, there’s a lot less to like. This look at 10 drained lakes of the past and present shows the gravity of the situation when Mother Nature – or, on occasion, the errant hand of Man – suddenly decides to pull the plug.

Tempe Town Lake, Arizona, USA

(images via: DesertUSA, ASU and GWilmore)

Tempe Town Lake is a 2-mile long artificial lake that runs through the center of Tempe, Arizona, USA. The lake sits within the bed of the Salt River, which is almost always dry due to diversion of the river’s water for agricultural use at various points upstream.

(image via: KAM-AZ)

The lake is only about 13 feet deep on average and is held in place by innovative inflatable dams at either end. The Dams allow the Salt River to flow along its natural course at times when storms and flooding create an unusually high level of water in the river bed.

On July 20, 2010, the west side of Tempe Town Lake’s outflow dam suffered (for want of a better term) a blowout that allowed most of the lake’s water to quickly drain into the Salt River. Most of the approximately 10,000 fish living in the lake were swept downstream and an alligator named Tuesday was released into the remaining pools of water to eat what fish remained.

Lake Delhi, Iowa, USA

(images via: CBS News and Vacation Rentals)

The Delhi Dam, on the Maquoketa River south of Delhi, Iowa, was built over a 7-year period from 1922 to 1929. Lake Delhi was created behind the dam and over the succeeding decades proved to be a much-desired location for recreational boating, fishing, and lakeside summer housing.

(images via: Washington Times, Des Moines Register and FOX News)

Call it a dammed shame, but many say the failure of the Delhi Dam was an accident waiting to happen. Flooding in 2008 had caused a half-million dollars worth of damage to the dam and exceptionally heavy rains (approximately 10 inches in 12 hours) caused the swollen lake to overtop its southern embankment on July 24, 2010.

(image via: Des Moines Register)

Rapid erosion of the embankment sped up the outflow and by the next day, Lake Delhi was no more. As the lake and the Delhi Dam were owned by the Lake Delhi Recreation Association, it’s uncertain whether state or federal funds will be used to help rebuild the dam and restore the lake. If not, those who invested in former lakefront property will be out of luck AND lake.

Lake Delton, Wisconsin, USA

(images via: FlyHighWi, RV.net and Wunderground)

If residents of Lake Delhi are searching for some hope, they may find it in Wisconsin’s Lake Delton. Like Lake Delhi, Lake Delton is a man-made lake created in the 1920s as a way to attract visitors to the Wisconsin Dells tourist and vacation area. The lake – more of a reservoir, actually – is only about 10 feet deep and has a surface area of around 260 acres… at least it did, until June 9th of 2008.

(images via: Howder Family)

Heavy rains had raised the level of Lake Delton and put tremendous pressure on the dikes that separated the lake from the Wisconsin River 800 feet away. The sudden collapse of a 400-ft section of County Highway A that ran on top of the containment dike caused a deluge that completely drained Lake Delton in a matter of hours. Several lakefront homes also collapsed though there was no loss of life. Here’s a short video showing the state of the former Lake Delton 2 weeks after the water drained out:

Empty Lake Delton, via TFHowder

(image via: Wikimedia)

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle quickly announced the state would be repairing the lake and indeed, by Memorial Day of 2009 Lake Delton was re-opened with great fanfair.

Iceberg Lake, Alaska, USA

(images via: Far North Science and Stelia’s Guides)

Iceberg Lake, a glacial lake in the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains area of Alaska, leads a precarious existence by regularly filing and draining, sometimes catastrophically as it did in 1999. The lake is also remarkably responsive to weather conditions as it is pinned between two glaciers whose level of annual advancement and melting decide the fate of the lake.

(image via: National Park Photo Tour)

Scientists exploring the exposed bottom of Iceberg Lake discovered that distinct layers of sediment deposited on after another provided them with a detailed record of the area’s climate that could be traced back to the year 442 AD. Among other findings, the researchers were able to discern the Iceberg Lake did not drain at all during the Medieval Warm Period, a several centuries long warm interlude that existed up until the advent of the Little Ice Age, which lasted from approximately 1600 to 1850 AD.

Lake Haramaya, Ethiopia

(images via: Road To Ethiopia and Adis Ababa University)

Lake Haramaya was a freshwater lake in Ethiopia that was around 30 feet deep and whose shoreline stretched for about 10 miles – not an especially large lake but one that provided residents of the city of Harar with drinking water and farmers & fisherman with livelihoods. The keyword is “was”… overuse by residents, farmers and commercial enterprises caused the lake to drain completely in roughly a decade.

(images via: Gadaa.com, Road To Ethiopia and The CLP)

Lake Haramaya is not the only lake in Africa’s volcanic Rift Valley to run dry, and human use (and abuse) is not the only factor involved. Climatologists have noted an increased frequency of droughts over the past several decades and it’s thought that increasing human exploitation of the lake in recent years was enough to tip the balance.

Scott Lake, Florida, USA

(image via: The Ledger and Democratic Underground)

Scott Lake is a 291-acre natural lake in Lakeland, Florida, 30 miles east of Tampa. Like Lake Delhi, Scott Lake is owned by the surrounding homeowners who are once again asking state authorities to refill the lake and preserve their property values. Yes, “once again” – Scott Lake has drained before, in the early 1970s, caused by sinkholes opening up in the porous limestone bedrock that lies beneath the lake.

(images via: Democratic Underground, Thomas.net and Death By 1000 Papercuts)

In June of 2006, as many as 4 sinkholes suddenly opened in the lakebed and before you could say “Great Scott!”, Scott Lake was drained. Since then a heated controversy has arisen over demands from wealthy owners of lakeside property that water from Florida’s freshwater aquifer be used to refill the lake. This wasn’t a problem in 1974 but today, water is in short supply as Florida’s population puts increasing strain on the state’s fresh water supplies.

White Lake, Russia

(images via: Above Top Secret, Free Republic and BBC)

In May of 2005, residents of the village of Bolotnikovo near Nizhni Novgorod, Russia, were shocked to find that most of the water in White Lake had mysteriously vanished. No explanation could be offered for the sudden and silent loss of roughly a million cubic meters of water. “It looks like somebody has pulled the plug out of a gigantic bath,” said a correspondent fr Russia’s NTV. Though an official from a nearby village speculated that the lake’s water flowed into an underground river, others had their own suspicions, believing that “outside forces” were responsible. One man was quoted as stating “I think that America got us here.” It seems that in rural Russia at least, the Cold War never really ended.

Lake Peigneur, Louisiana, USA

(images via: Troy McClure, Damn Interesting and WayMarking)

Lake located above a salt mine? Scary. Oil drilling in and around said lake? Crazy! But then, we all know that the right hands at big oil companies (we’re looking at you, BP) sometimes don’t know what their left hands are up to… or down to, and in the case of Texaco’s drilling rig in Louisiana’s Lake Peigneur, that would be down to 1,300-odd feet below the bottom of a 10-ft deep lake. When the 14-inch wide drill bit broke through the roof of the mine, the results were predictable yet still spectacular.

(images via: Circa71 and Ticklebooth)

Thirty years before the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, carelessness on an oil rig created a chain reaction of events that saw the 1,125 square acre lake (plus several barges, trees and 65 acres of shoreline land) quickly drain into the underlying Jefferson Island salt mine.

This video from The History Channel shows some of the events connected with the catastrophic drainage of Lake Peigneur, filmed by eye-witnesses at the time:

Lake Peigneur – Disappearing Lake, via The History Channel

So, what have we learned from the Lake Peigneur disaster? Considering the salt dome beneath the now saline lake is being used as a storage for pressurized natural gas while oil drilling continues in the area, the answer is “not much”.

Aral Sea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan

(images via: Elgadfly and New Eurasia)

Once the 4th largest inland body of water in the world, the Aral Sea now ranks at just 10th – and falling. A victim of misguided agricultural policies enacted by a nation (the USSR) that is no more, the Aral Sea itself may soon be no more since its main inlet rivers have been dammed to provide water for cotton farms. As the lake shrinks, its waters become more and more saturated with salt , fertilizer and pesticides to the point that an estimated 75 million tons of toxic dust and salts are blown across Central Asia each year. Images of the Aral Sea’s shocking retreat taken from orbiting satellites and spacecraft are, in a word, tragic.

(image via: Econuz)

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are the successor states to the USSR in which the toxic Aral Sea now lies, and although no longer bound by decrees from the Kremlin, the 2 states cannot agree on how to preserve or even restore the Aral Sea. In the meantime, the loss of over 90 percent of the sea has caused the entire region’s climate to become more extreme, and exposure to poisonous, windblown dust from the exposed lake bed has created a health crisis of immense scope. The shocking image above dates from the summer of 2009.

(image via: Telegraph UK)

There is, however, new hope for the Aral Sea as the Kazakh government and the World Bank are working to restore the lake to at least a semblance of its former size. As the images above show (2004 on the left, 2010 on the right), the Aral Sea’s surface area has rebounded 30 percent and depths in some areas have grown from 98 feet to over 130 feet.

Lake Missoula, Northwestern USA

(images via: The Resilient Earth and Glacial Lake Missoula)

Picture a lake with a surface area of 3,000 square miles containing 500 square miles of water, blocked by an ice dam that is actually an arm of a retreating glacier. This precarious image once existed, in western Montana, about 13,000 years ago and is known today as Lake Missoula. When the ice dam was breached and the lake began to drain westward towards the Pacific Ocean, a flood of biblical proportions ensued.

(images via: NPS and Summit Realty)

Not only is it estimated that it took only about 48 hours for the lake to drain completely, this nightmarish scenario is thought to have taken place as many as 40 times over a 2,000 year period. The repeated series of cataclysmic floods scoured vast stretches of eastern Oregon and Washington states into the Channeled Scablands. The remains of an enormous waterfall three times the height and width of Niagara Falls can be seen above top.

(images via: Huge Floods and Pics Digger)

Gigantic potholes, gargantuan ripple marks, dry waterfalls and other large-scale geologic features state unequivocally the incalculable power of rushing water – and lots of it. These features show some similarities to features found on the planet Mars and it’s now thought that our neighboring planet was subject to massive flooding events in its younger, wetter days.

(image via: Wikimedia)

Lakes, especially larger lakes, seem to be permanent fixtures of the landscape they occupy. In the geological big picture, however, this isn’t necessarily so and when change comes, it often comes suddenly and strikingly. Water tends to seek its own level under the influence of gravity, that’s just the way nature is… and nature knows no timetable and acts without regard to the works or wishes of Mankind.

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Inland Seas Worth Seeing: The 10 Most Amazing Lakes

Big lakes, tiny lakes, freshwater lakes, briny lakes… and more than a few that are one-of-a-kind. These 10 amazing lakes “shore” are special!
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Filed Under: Green Things
Tagged: ethiopia, events, florida, history, history & trivia, kazakhstan, nature, river, russia, sinkholes, travel, trivia, usa, video, water

Cool Cryptids: 14 Amazing Animals of Myth & Legend

July 26, 2010 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments 

[ By Steph in Animals & Habitats, History & Trivia, Nature & Ecosystems. ]

Amazingly bizarre creatures are still being discovered around the world practically every week, and it wasn’t that long ago that we thought Komodo dragons, giant squid and platypi were mythical beasts. So is it possible that a lightening-spitting giant worm, a slimy river imp or a fat walking snake really exist? These 14 ‘cryptids’, creatures that have been reported but never confirmed, range from the seemingly possible to the laughably absurd.

Mongolian Death Worm

(image via: buzztab)

What’s so special about the Mongolian Death Worm that makes cryptozoologists spend their life savings blowing up the desert in search of it? Well, it can supposedly shoot lightening out of its rectum long-distance, for one. The blood-red, acid-spitting cryptid is said to be up to five feet long with spikes protruding from both ends. Mongolian nomads have reported on its existence for centuries, but despite night-vision goggles and camera-equipped ultralight planes, it has never been confirmed as a real creature.

Trunko the Furry Fish

(image via: the cryptozoologist)

What’s big as a whale and furry all over – with an elephant trunk? You might guess ‘mammoth’, except for the fact that this particular cryptid has the tail of a lobster and swims underwater. Trunko is the affectionate nickname given to the “fish like a polar bear” which was reportedly sighted in South Africa in 1924. The strangely bloodless carcass washed up on Margate Beach and despite being there for 10 days, no scientist ever investigated it. One explanation is that the specimen was a whale or shark that appeared furry due to decay.

Yowie the Hairy Hominid

(image via: crikey)

Everybody knows about Bigfoot and Yetis, but have you ever heard of a Yowie? Australia’s furry man-like creature has been a part of Aboriginal legend for centuries and is said to be 7-8 feet tall with bright red eyes and a body odor problem. Is it some undiscovered primate? Nobody knows for sure – one supposed “sighting” turned out to merely be a particularly hairy naked man running across the highway.

Chupacabra

(image via: holamun2)

What’s killing livestock in places like Puerto Rico, Chile and Mexico? Maybe it’s local predators like coyotes – or maybe it’s the Chupacabra, a persistent cryptid that supposedly sucks the blood of animals like goats. The so-called ‘bizarre’ mutilations of these dead animals has never been confirmed and though many a captured specimen has been declared to finally be a real Chupacabra, they’ve inevitably been identified as raccoons, possums and other everyday animals rendered hairless by skin disease.

Kappa – Slimy Japanese River Imp

(image via: pink tentacle)

It looks sort of like a child, but with the glistening skin of a frog and unusually thin, gangly limbs. The Kappa is one of Japan’s most famous cryptids, an amphibious creature that leaves a trail of slime wherever it goes. In 1984, a specimen was supposedly spotted at the edge of a river in Tsushima and the slime taken to a lab for analysis, but the sample was too small to be useful. Another reported encounter involved bizarre footprints in a home that left a gooey mess that even paint thinner couldn’t tackle.

Windigo – Cannibal Night Monster

(image via: bill casselman)

First, it invaded the body of an ill man as a lump of ice in the heart. Soon enough, the man would turn black with frostbite, begin vomiting ice and develop an insatiable craving for human flesh. In some northern Algonquin-speaking Native American tribes, the “windigo” was the unfortunate result of a man gone completely insane. Sometimes, the transformation was said to have been caused by cannabalism. But in nearly all cases, the man was said to turn into a gigantic nocturnal beast all too eager to feed upon the innocent.

Bladenboro Beast

(image via: hubpages)

What sort of creature could kill multiple pit bulls and drain their blood? Why, it could only be a hulking vampire creature resembling a cross between a wolf and a bear, of course. The Bladenboro Beast, named after the area it has reportedly terrorized since the 1950s, was spotted by a number of locals, one of whom described its “round face, shiny eyes and large teeth.” While locals still claim to catch glimpses of it today, some who believe the story think it might actually be a big cat – which are also a sort of cryptid, at least in this area. Reports of panthers in North Carolina have never been confirmed, either.

The Dover Demon

(image via: wikimedia commons)

This sketch of the ‘Dover Demon’ of Massachusetts is so alien-like, it’s easy for skeptics to dismiss reports of its existence as utter hogwash. But believers say this bizarre hairless creature with a watermelon-shaped head and orange eyes might have been some kind of mutant – and some believe that it really was an alien. One witness wrote next to a sketch he created “I, Bill Bartlett, swear on a stack of Bibles that I saw this creature.” Others seeking a scientific explanation wonder if it could have been a newborn moose – do you see any resemblance?

Minhocao

(image via: wikimedia commons)

Could the mythical minhocao of South America’s forests be a gigantic subspecies of caecilians – amphibians that look like earthworms? The minhocao (“big earthworm” in Portuguese), which is said to burrow underground, is believed to be a relic of the dinosaur age. Sightings were mostly reported in Brazil during the 19th century. Some people think that minhocaos are still spotted but accidentally reported as another cryptid, the giant anaconda.

Gnome of Girona

(image via: anomalia)

Is the creature seen in this jar some kind of undiscovered animal, an abnormal fetus or just a hoax? Dubbed the “gnome of girona”, it was captured by campers in Spain and supposedly lived for a few days before it was preserved in formol by parapsychologist Angel Gordon and shown all over Spanish television.  According to Wikipedia, “The connection between the pictures and how they reached the media is obscure, qualifying the whole story as a hoax of dubious authority.” Some experts believe it may be the fetus of a cow.

Tsuchinoko

(image via: pink tentacle)

Perhaps the photos that supposedly show a creature known in Japan as the tsuchinoko are just a case of mistaken identity. Some argue that what you see here is just a snake digesting a huge meal, or an escaped exotic pet. But tsuchinokos have been reported since the 7th century, and considering some of the other bizarre creatures that have been confirmed as real lately, it wouldn’t be too surprising if this were really an undiscovered species. Japanese legend only serves to muddy the issue, however, with claims that the creature talks, with a propensity for lying and a love for alcoholic beverages.

Beast of Gevaudan

(image via: wikimedia commons)

Okay, so the Beast of Gevaudan doesn’t really have bizarre metal scales as portrayed in the movie Brotherhood of the Wolf. But the cryptozoological animal that the movie’s antagonist is based upon is known as a vicious man-eating wolf with huge teeth and longer-than-normal tails. The creature is blamed for attacks in the French village of Gevaudan between 1764 and 1767, with a death toll of over 200 people. Some say it could have been a wolf-dog hybrid, and others believe it was actually a werewolf.

Montauk Monster

(image via: wikimedia commons)

When a frightening-looking corpse washed up on the beach of Montauk, New York in 2008, onlookers joked that maybe it came from Plum Island, where the USDA runs an animal disease center. The corpse was likely bloated from its time in the water, but speculation has deemed it everything from a turtle without its shell to a raccoon to a dog. The current location of the body is unclear, making some people wonder whether the whole thing was a hoax.

Sea Monsters of All Stripes

(image via: wikimedia commons)

What creatures make up the biggest chunk of cryptids? Sea monsters, of course – there are so many of them, we could easily make a list that consisted of nothing but these mysterious underwater creatures that may or may not exist. It’s understandable – the sea is a strange and somewhat frightening place packed full of creatures that seem like they couldn’t possibly be real. Notable maybe-real-or-maybe-not water monsters include the infamous Loch Ness Monster, Chessie, Isshi, Kraken… the list goes on and on.

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Naturally Social: Cool Ways Animals Communicate

From the dialects of the prairie dog to the inaudible rumbles of elephants, animal communication serves many practical purposes, all the while amazing.
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Filed Under: Green Things
Tagged: animals, bizarre, cryptozoology, mythology, nature, puerto-rico, south-africa, trivia, wikipedia

Nine Lives: Black Cat Is Lucky Recipient of Bionic Legs

July 16, 2010 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments 

[ By Delana in Animals & Habitats, Science & Research, Technology & Gadgets. ]

Is there anything more tragic than a family pet suffering a tragic accident? In the past, a pet who lost two legs would have been put to sleep to end its suffering, but thanks to one pioneering vet and a team of biomedical engineers, there’s now an alternative: bionic legs.

The world-first operation was performed by Dr. Noel Fitzpatrick, a veterinary surgeon in Surrey, England. Oscar the cat was the unlucky animal on the operating table; he lost both hind legs after falling asleep in an unfortunate place. As he dozed, a combine harvester rolled over him, destroying the legs but fortunately sparing Oscar’s life. The cat was brought to Dr. Fitzpatrick, who worked with a team from University College London to develop the special prosthetic legs.

With most prosthetics – for both animals and humans – the artificial limb simply sits on top of the stump. One of the reasons this operation was so revolutionary is because it uses weight-bearing implants to which the prosthetic legs attach. The implants have actually bonded with Oscar’s body, making them a permanent part of the cat’s physiology and giving him a natural gait.

(all images via: BBC)

The team who developed the implants based their design on deer antlers which grow through the skin. The implants have a big advantage over conventional prosthetics in that they won’t produce the friction and rubbing that often plagues their wearers. Oscar won’t be able to feel his new feet, but his doctors are certain that he’ll be able to live the healthy, happy life of a normal cat. The technology is being developed for humans, and Oscar will go down in history as the lucky black cat who helped advance this research by leaps and bounds.

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Animal Hybrids: The Half-Lives Of 10 Curious Creatures

Animal hybrids can occur naturally or through the machinations of Mankind - either way, the resulting hybrids can be surprisingly vigorous.
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Filed Under: Green Things
Tagged: amazing-stories, animal-hybrids, bbc, cats, habitats, london, nature, science & research, technology, technology & gadgets, university, veterinary

Grand Paws: 10 Of The World’s Longest Lived Animals

July 13, 2010 by admin · View Comments 

[ By Steve in Animals & Habitats, History & Trivia, Nature & Ecosystems. ]

Aging may be a natural life process but for our animal friends, it’s more often a curse: predators pick out the slow, weak and old for an easier kill. As pampered pets and protected in zoos, however, animals have a much greater chance of reaching ages simply not possible in the wild. These 10 “grand paws” lead the senior circuit with the most golden years.

Oldest Rabbit – 18+ Years

(images via: Gomestic, LooneyTunes and Talking Squid)

According to the House Rabbit Society, rabbits kept indoors may expect to live from 6 to 8 years and rabbits kept outdoors in hutches typically enjoy shorter lifespans, probably due to environmental factors. Though there are a number of notable rabbits who have lived upwards of 14 years, the longest-lived rabbit so far recorded was a wild rabbit caught on August 6th, 1964, in Tasmania, Australia. Subsequently named Flopsy and kept as a pet, the rabbit lived a further 18 years and 10.75 months making his/her actual age at passing on very close to 19 years.

(images via: Boston.com, Readers Digest and World Records Academy)

The Guinness Book of Records has handed out framed certificates for the “Oldest Living Rabbit” from time to time; an odd practice considering the length of the so-called record would change by the day until the rabbit died – at which point it would no longer be a Living Rabbit. Examples include, from above left going clockwise: 14-year-old George, 15- to 16-year old Heather, and 16-year-old Hazel.

Oldest Spider – 28 Years

(images via: American Tarantula Society, I, Trudge and My Interests)

Insects are among the shortest-lived of all creatures, some only surviving a day or so after achieving their adult stage. Spiders aren’t insects but as Arthropods they share many traits with them. Surprisingly, brief lifespans aren’t one of them – a fact that will dismay many who can’t abide the hairy little (or not so little) beasties.

(images via: Kayotic Exotic, Children’s Lit and Emails From Crazy People)

Most people would imagine the average spider would live for a few weeks, couple of months at most… but 28 years?? That does appear to be the case, and the ancient arachnid in question is (or was) a female tarantula captured in Mexico in 1935. Perhaps the spider’s diet – it was a “bird-eating spider” – made the difference. If you can catch & chow down on birds, you can certainly hold off the Grim Reaper for a while.

Oldest Dog – 29 Years

(images via: Oh My News and Houndbound)

The oldest documented dog recorded was Bluey, an Australian Cattle Dog who was born in June of 1910 and died on November 14th, 1939. Bluey could have lived longer but as he was suffering from an undisclosed chronic ailment his owners thought it best that he be put to sleep. Most ACDs live 12 to 15 years and are known for their hard work on farms and ranches. Bluey’s age at death was 29 years, 5 months – the equivalent age of a human being would be about 206!

(images via: DogGuide.net and Inquisitr)

It seems astonishing that in the past 70 years not a single dog has surpassed ol’ Bluey’s longevity record. A few have come close, however, including 29-year-old Bella (top), Chanel (above left, 21 years and 114 days) and Otto (20 years and 334 days, above right).

Oldest Cat – 38 Years

(images via: World Records Academy, China Daily, Denbighshire Free Press and The Daily Mews)

Cats and dogs are equal, you say? Not when it comes to age – cats do seem to have an advantage in that department. Maybe it’s their more relaxed (in general) character, perhaps its the way they handle the domestic lifestyle, who can really say? What we CAN say is that cats can live well into their 30s and unconfirmed reports have them lasting into their 40s. Guess that’s where the term “cougar” came from. Above are a selection of “old cats” – from left and moving clockwise: Mischief (27), Tizzie (36), Jess (25), and Spike (31)

(images via: Catster, Magic Tails and Cat Diaries)

According to the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of Records, the reigning longevity champion of cat-dom was Creme Puff, a female tabby born on August 3rd, 1967 and who died on August 6th, 2005) aged 38 years and 3 days. Though an abundance of long-lived cats are regularly reported from the UK, Creme Puff lived with her owner, Jake Perry & family, in Austin, Texas, USA.

Oldest Goldfish – 43 years

(images via: ShutterStock, Fizzics Education and Awakened To Change)

Who can live longer, a polar bear (oldest age = 42) or a goldfish? Wrong, it’s the goldfish… well, as long as they don’t come into contact. Reports of goldfish living into their 40s are surprisingly commonplace, with many of them spending their whole lives with the same family whose child won them at a fair or festival. Owners who would like to prolong the lives of their goldfish as long as possible would do well to provide them with a larger aquarium than the stereotypical Goldfish Bowl and feed them a variety of foods – not those smelly fish flakes.

(images via: PetGoldfish.net, Paper Castle Press and Free Republic)

You might think its unfair and a little ironic that as we enter our golden years, our hair turns silver. Well, misery loves company: it happens to goldfish too, though it’s their scales that turn silver. Take “Tish”, for example a Comet Goldfish who, according to the BBC, “died at the age of 43 peacefully in his bowl.” Tish joined the Hand family of Yorkshire, England, in 1956 when then 7-year-old Peter Hand won him at a local fun fair.

Oldest Horse – 62 Years

(images via: Daily Mail UK and Simply Marvelous)

Horses, at least those lucky enough to be pampered and put out to stud, can live for many decades. Must be the whole “stud” thing. Most horses live 20 to 25 years, which seems a long time considering most thoroughbreds who run in major races like the Kentucky Derby are just 3 years old.

(image via: 1st Art Gallery)

The verifiably oldest horse was Old Billy, born in 1760 and living an astonishing 62 years. As Old Billy had a tough early life as a barge horse towing cargo boats along England’s many inland canals, his exceptional longevity is all the more surprising.

Oldest Bird – 77 Years

(images via: Outlaw Journalism, PWAM and Ebooks@Adelaide)

Birds can live upwards of 60 years, with some species (parrots, vultures, albatrosses and eagles – no “bald” remarks, if you please) possibly exceeding the century mark. A longevity listing posted by the Forest Preserve District of Cook County (Illinois) had a Turkey Buzzard on top, at 118 years – though no corroborating information was included. Long lifespans in birds should not be too surprising, as they are closely related to long-lived reptiles such as turtles and tortoises.

(images via: Brookfield Zoo and Jokulhlaup)

Cookie, a Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo who has resided at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo since 1933 when he was a one-year-old fledgling, is today recognized as the world’s longest living bird – he’s 77. Cookie is considered to be “semi-retired” as public appearances stress him out. He was also diagnosed with for osteoarthritis and osteoporosis in 2007, ailments that may be the result of his being fed only seeds for the first 40 years of his life. Most Major Mitchell’s Cockatoos live from 40 to 60 years in captivity so Cookie is flying well into uncharted territory.

Oldest Elephant – 86 Years

(images via: Elephants.com, James Tung and Andrew Howat)

They say an elephant never forgets, which is really saying something in the case of those pachyderms whose ages, if not surpassing their weight, most certainly are higher than their shoe size. Elephants are generally credited with being the longest-lived land mammal, humans aside, with the most common figure given being 70. One side of the ongoing tragedy of elephant poaching is that the oldest animals – often those with the largest and longest tusks – are the ones most frequently targeted and killed. The oldest elephant on record was 86-year-old Lín Wàng (1917 – February 26, 2003). This well-documented elephant served both Chiang Kai Shek and the Imperial Japanese Army before arriving in Taiwan after the communist takeover of China.

(image via: Metro UK)

A candidate for the world’s oldest living elephant is Vatsala (above), a female Indian elephant estimated by her keepers at India’s Panna Tiger Reserve to be in her early 90s. When Vatsala arrived at the sanctuary in 1971 she had already lost her teeth, an indication that she was probably more than 50 years old.

Oldest Koi – 226 years

(images via: On The Borderland, Echigo and Newz Is Newz)

Beating out elephants, cats, dogs, birds horses and more for anything is an accomplishment, outliving them all is almost unbelievable! Yet it’s been done, and by a fish no less. Not just any fish either – you might guess a shark, sturgeon or giant catfish and you’d be wrong. Nope, it’s a koi. These relatives of the aforementioned goldfish are mainly known for populating Japanese temple fishponds and one such denizen, named Hanako, managed to live an amazing 226 years (1751 to July 17th, 1977).

(image via: Koi360)

Scientists have incontrovertible evidence for Hanako’s extreme age. Much like trees, fish exhibit growth rings on their scales. Careful inspection of Hanako’s scales after her demise confirmed temple record-keeping was accurate – this otherwise unremarkable fish (shown above, in 1966) had managed to survive 226 years of history, geology and climatology. In the year of Hanako’s hatching, President James Madison was born, the town of Georgetown, Maryland was founded, and the elemental metal Nickel was discovered and described.

Oldest Tortoise – 255 Years

(images via: Arkive, aVida and Ashton Nichols)

Among the most famous long-lived animals are the Giant Tortoises of the Galapagos Islands, the Seychelles, Java and Flores islands in Indonesia, and other islands. These sluggish but majestic creatures were once common on continental landmasses; it’s only on islands mainly free of mammals that they have managed to survive to this day.

(images via: BBC and New York Times)

The current record holder for Oldest Giant Tortoise is Adwaita, a 550 lb (250 kg) male Aldabra giant tortoise who was presented as a gift to Lord Clive (1725-1774). British seafarers had previously captured Adwaita and 3 other tortoises in the Seychelles islands near Madagascar. Estimated to have been born circa 1750, Adwaita lived at the Alipore Zoological Gardens in Kolkata, India, from 1875 to the time of his death on March 23rd, 2006. Subsequent radiocarbon dating of Adwaita’s shell confirmed an age of approximately 255 years.

(image via: Cheezburger.com)

“Treat the elderly with respect”… this age-old (sorry) admonition works for animals as well as for people. As modern medicine boosts the numbers of seniors of ALL species, the records quoted in this post will surely be broken sooner or later, and that’s a good thing. I SAID, THAT’S A GOOD THING!

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Happy Fourth of July: 7 x 4 = 28 Patriotic Animal Pictures

July 4, 2010 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments 

[ By Chris in Animals & Habitats, History & Trivia, Nature & Ecosystems. ]

(Images via: Photobucket, Costume Cats, Flickr, Costume Dogs, Critteristic, PBase)

While dressing animals in clothing can certainly exude a level of creepiness, it’s all good when done for patriotic purposes, right? Whatever the case, it’s all about the red, white and blue on this day for these proud-to-be-American dogs, cats, squirrels, horses, turtles and guinea pigs.

Hot Dogs: Dressed for Success & the Best Country Going

(Images via: Costume Dogs, Bag of Nothing, Downtown Pets)

Straight out of a political convention, these patriotic dogs are styling and profiling on Independence Day, with the mutt in the upper right casting a mug worthy of a presidential profile and the fellow in the lower left literally going above and beyond for the United States. As for the tongue-wagging pup on the lower right, he or she is primarily concerned if this paint job will ever rub off.

Independence Day: (Hardly) Independent, Patriot Dogs

(Images via: A Dog Lover’s Blog, Juliannah by Design, Dachshunds Dressed for Show)

Not sure that these dogs know what’s been done to them by their owners, but there’s no need for the guy in the lower left to take a plunge. Rather, the canine in the upper left has the perfect attitude, sleeping it off until things return to normal. As for the Statue of Liberty, here’s hoping that this dog is a she and not a he, as that would be rather demeaning.

Two More Patriotic (But Less Than Enthusiastic) Dogs

(Images via: The Pet Boutique)

Speaking of demeaning, the two pictures above reflect patriotism gone wild. Come on now: patriotic dog shirts and two-piece swim suits! How many bags of Kibble-N-Bits were given to these model dogs, which certainly don’t look like the happiest or most willing participants around. In these tough economic times, a paycheck is a paycheck.

The Cats in the Uncle Sam Top Hats

(Images via: Costume Cats, Snuzzy, Almanac, Ilxor, Fur All Over, Flickr)

Mad props to the owners of the cats in the upper left and on the right, as it had to take a long time to get their felines into those patriotic pet costumes. As for the other patriotic cats, it goes without saying that these guys know what it takes to exude a casual yet cool look on a sweltering Fourth of July.

The Patriotic Squirrel, Tortoise and Bunny Rabbit

(Images via: Ilxor, Flickr, Justin Space)

For his Fourth of July, this wannabe-Framer squirrel is participating in a reenactment of the drawing up of the Declaration of Independence. For Mr. Tortoise, he is slowly but surely taking part in an Independence Day Parade. And this silly rabbit is chilling out at a July 4^th barbecue, waiting for some tasty eats.

The Animal Flag Bearers

(Images via: Fat Knowledge, Cowboys and Sunsets, Ilxor)

Taking one small step for mankind, this patriotic squirrel has firmly claimed the surrounding land for the United States. Performing their own pledge of allegiance, these two horses are contemplating what the red, white and blue symbolize. As for the pink-rimmed dog, he’s just saved the flag from being buried in a hole in the backyard. All kidding aside, the Fourth of July is a day of celebration and respect. Have a safe and happy Independence Day.

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Forest for the Trees: An Endless Forest in the City

July 2, 2010 by thegreenchildrenfoundation · View Comments 

[ By Delana in Art & Design, Nature & Ecosystems. ]

Stuck in the urban jungle and longing for greener places? We’ve all been there, but it’s not always easy to sneak away and take a short trip to the forest. DUS Architects made it possible to take a break from the concrete jungle and get back to nature with its uniquely wonderful project called Unlimited Urban Woods.

The Unlimited Urban Woods was a temporary public art pavilion at the Oosterdokskade, Amsterdam. The unassuming box took up only a few square meters of ground space, but inside sat a forest that went on forever.

Upon stepping into the box, visitors were greeted with an impossibly lush and full wooded area. The effect was achieved with one full-size tree and some strategically angled mirrors. The image of the tree was repeated in the mirrors over and over, making it feel as though one could simply walk through these woods for eternity.

The exhibit was an unexpected bit of green in the city, giving passers-by a chance to take a break from their normal busy day and simply relax for a while in a calm, green space. Even if the forest wasn’t real, the sense of being in a vast space certainly was.

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9 More Most Extreme Places on the Planet

June 22, 2010 by admin · View Comments 

[ By Steve in 7 Wonders Series, Geography & Travel, Nature & Ecosystems. ]

In The 9 Most Extreme Places on the Planet, WebEcoist sought out the most superlative locations on the Earth in nine nifty categories. This renewed look at our exceptional planet uncovers nine more extreme locations that rate their own place in the sun… rain, wind, snow, etcetera.

The Oldest

(images via: Daily Mail UK and Mahjoob)

There are several candidates for the Earth’s oldest rocks located in Greenland, South Africa and Australia but the Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt in northern Canada seems to be the reigning age champion.

(image via: The Pirate’s Cove)

These rocks date back approximately 4.28 billion years to the Hadean Eon, a hellish time when our planet’s crust was just beginning to cool, and meteorites and comets rained from the skies. It’s estimated that the impact of a Mars-sized proto-planet called Theia occurred several hundred million years earlier, adding to the earth’s mass and forming the Moon.

(images via: PopAstro and GalaxyWire)

The “oldest rock on Earth” may actually be a moon rock! The so-called Genesis Rock, picked up off the lunar surface by astronauts during the Apollo 15 mission, is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old and may have once been part of the Moon’s original crust.

The Rainiest

(images via: Tutunendo, Patatastraigo and Travelvista)

You might expect the rainiest place on Earth to be in a rainforest and you’d be right: the Colombian Department (province) of Chocó, bordering Panama, is widely recognized as being the wettest place in the world. How wet is Chocó? In 1974, the town of Tutunendo was drenched with an astounding 26,303 mm (86 ft, 3.5 inches) of rain! On average, Tutunendo receives 11,770 cm (463.4 inches, or 38 ft, 6 inches) of rain per year and 2/3 of the time the rain falls at night.

(images via: Plan Your Adventure and Hanaleikauai Activities)

Mount Wai-’ale’ale on the island of Kauai, Hawaii has the most rainy days per year: up to 350 rainy days annually. Keep that in mind before you book your next vacation to “sunny Hawaii”.

The Snowiest

(images via: Wikipedia, Dgrin and WS/DOTblog)

Extremely heavy snowfalls occur in parts of the world where tall mountains divert moisture-laden air masses upward, bringing them past their condensation points. Exceptionally heavy snowfalls can occur in some surprising places: on February 14, 1927, researchers measured the depth of the annual snowpack on Japan’s Mount Ibuki at 38.8 feet (11.82 m). The Cascade Mountains of America’s Pacific Northwest are the recorded snowfall champions, however.

(image via: Stone Creek Lodge)

Snow on Washington state’s Mount Rainier was measured at a record 93.5 feet (2,850 cm) in the winter of 1971–72. Mount Ranier’s record was broken over the winter of 1998-99 when 95 feet (2,896 cm) of snow fell on the nearby Mt. Baker Ski Area. We’ll assume the snow-making machines got a rest that winter.

(images via: Dark Roasted Blend, English Russia and France24)

While snowfall in upper mountain elevations rarely inconveniences anyone except skiers, heavy snowfalls can paralyze urban centers for days, sometimes weeks. The above images of towns in Russia and the Ukraine digging out from massive snowstorms show what a visit from General Winter can be like… foreign invaders, take heed (and snowshoes).

The Driest

(images via: Nunuk Photos, Up Overland and Run Further)

Chile’s Atacama Desert doesn’t get much rain at the best of times, and at the worst of times which is, actually, most of the time) it gets barely any. It’s been noted that at the town of Arica, no rain at all fell between October 1903 to January 1918 – longest recorded rainless period in the world! Some parts of the Atacama strongly resemble photos of the planet Mars, which is not really a surprise as it doesn’t rain there either.

(images via: GhostTowns, Petzlaff and Historic 66)

America’s Death Valley often makes lists of the hottest, lowest and driest places but the Mojave Desert can be just as hot and dry. Indeed, the longest recorded dry spell in the USA was at Bagdad, California (appropriate name, that) – 767 days, from October 3rd, 1912 to November 8th, 1914. I doubt they had a white Christmas then, and they won’t now: Bagdad’s been a ghost town since 1991.

The Windiest

(images via: 180782’s Blog, New Zealand Travel and State Library of NSW)

Commonwealth Bay is officially listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and the Eighth Edition of the National Geographic Atlas as being the windiest place on Earth – and to make matters even worse, it’s located in Antarctica. Forget about the occasional gust, the winds at Commonwealth Bay are strong, steady, and blow at 150 mph (240 km/h) – or more.

(image via: AAD)

Australian antarctic explorer Douglas Mawson established the main base of the 1912 Australasian Antarctic Expedition expedition at Cape Denison, at the mouth of Commonwealth Bay. Presumably he did this on a rare windless day; otherwise he must have been insane.

(images via: Home By The Sea and Brian A Small)

One of the windiest places on Earth’s northern hemisphere is Cape Blanco in southwestern Oregon, USA. Jutting into the Pacific Ocean near Coos Bay, Cape Blanco is both the westernmost point of Oregon and the contiguous United States. Severe winter storms often rake Cape Blanco with shrieking winds that gust up to 125 mph (200 km/h).

The Flattest

(images via: Rajie Manders, WikiTravel, Home of POI and Horolezec)

Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni was formed from several prehistoric lakes that converged and dried, leaving a salt pan several feet thick or more over a 4,086 sq mi (10,582 sq km) expanse. Think of Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats multiplied by 25 and you’ll get an idea of how large the Salar de Uyuni is.

(image via: Seaway Blog)

Certain rare elements are concentrated in the various salts that make up the Salar, especially the strategic metal Lithium – up to 70 percent of the world’s lithium reserves are locked in the Salar’s salts!

(images via: Gone For A Wander and Travel Bolivia)

Normally dry and virtually lifeless, the Salar de Uyuni comes alive each November when summer rains attract flocks of pink flamingos, who feed on red algae and brine shrimp. At these times, the Salar becomes even flatter – in effect, it becomes a virtual mirror orbiting satellites use to calibrate their distance measurements.

The Deepest Cave

(images via: Gilyn, The Horse and Rider and Karavi)

Located in the politically ambiguous Republic of Abkhazia, the Voronya Cave (Crows’ Cave, in Russian) plunges 7,188 feet (2,191 m) into the depths of the Arabika Massif, a limestone formation dating back to the Age of Dinosaurs. Also known as the Krubera cave (after Russian geographer Alexander Kruber), the cave was discovered in 1960 and has surpassed Austria’s Lamprechtsofen as the world’s deepest cave and the only known cave deeper than 2,000 meters (6,561.5 ft).

(image via: Avibo)

Credit must be given to the the Ukrainian Speleological Association for establishing a series of depth records in the Voronya Cave and its many subsidiary caves. Beginning in the early 1980s, the Ukr.S.A. began deliberately clearing blockages and expanding squeeze points so that cave explorers could penetrate ever deeper into the interconnected caves. The current record depth of 7,188 feet (2,191 m) was set in the autumn of 2007 but as the Ukr.S.A. mounts annual expeditions to the Voronya Cave system, it’s possible those figures could change.

The Most Remote Land

(images via: Stuff, Explorapoles and PolarIce)

A “pole of inaccessibility” is that point on a continent that is the greatest distance from any ocean in any direction – the North American PofA is in South Dakota. There’s a hierarchy among poles of inaccessibility, however, and the most inaccessible of all lies in the frigid wastelands of Antarctica.

(images via: N/US Traverse and Break Media)

In 1958 the Soviet Union established a base at the Antarctic Pole of Inaccessibility which they quickly abandoned. Before leaving the base, the Soviet team installed a golden bust (OK, it’s plastic) of Lenin to oversee the icy landscape and mark the USSR’s global reach. Lenin’s eyes gaze back wistfully in the direction of Moscow – on the bright side, he won’t be troubled by pigeons. Below the bust, nearly inundated by years of snow, is a small hut that contains a guest book for visitors to sign. I’m guessing it’s a very thin periodical.

The Most Remote Island

(images via: Wikimedia, Lo Incognito, Mappery and Hotel Club)

Our previous Extreme Places on the Planet article featured the Most Remote Inhabited Island, Tristan de Cunha. Though certainly remote, another uninhabited island holds the distinction of being the most remote, period. Bouvet Island is a small island in the South Atlantic Ocean that, oddly enough, is under Norwegian sovereignty. The nearest land is Antarctica’s Queen Maud Land nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to the south. The nearest inhabited island is Tristan da Cunha, 1,404 miles (2,260 km) away and the nearest inhabited land is South Africa, which is 1,600 miles (2,580 km) to the northeast. Fun facts about Bouvet island: it served as the setting for the 2004 film Alien vs. Predator. Bouvet Island also has its own (unused) Internet country code top-level domain: bv.

(image via: Robin Muench)

Bouvet Island is 93 percent ice-covered with glaciers calving into the chill Southern Ocean. The island is only 19 square miles (49 sq km) in area and has no vegetation except for small outcrops of moss and lichen. Bouvet Island’s only claim to fame occurred in 1979 when an orbiting American spy satellite detected a double-flash of light near the island. Though never officially confirmed, the flash is believed by many to be the signature of a joint Israel-South Africa nuclear test.

(image via: Borders.com)

Extremes of weather, distance, geology and geography make our planet exceptional in many ways. Nothing interesting in your world today? Step out of your comfort zone sometime, going to extremes can have its own reward!

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The 9 Most Extreme Places on the Planet

This article describes the hottest, wettest, driest, highest, lowest, tallest, coldest and other most extreme locations and places on earth.
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Filed Under: Green Things
Tagged: 7 wonders series, article, autumn, california, earth, geography & travel, geology, nature, nature & ecosystems, oregon, russian, time

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