| Showing Some Tail
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| Date and
Time |
- | Sep. 29th, 2007, 10:51 am | |
| Current Mood |
- |  mellow | |
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| Squirrels are not as helpless as they may seem when confronted by rattlesnakes eager to make dinner of their pups. A new study reveals one of their most powerful tactics: the rodents heat their bushy tails and wave them back and forth to warn infrared-sensitive snakes they will not get fast food.
Infrared video showed that California ground squirrels' tails warmed by several degrees, up to 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit), when threatened by northern Pacific rattlesnakes, which detect the infrared glow from small mammals using so-called pit organs in their noses. But no heating occurred while the rodents defended against gopher snakes, which lack such heat seekers, according to a report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.
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| Sea Monster Caught on Film
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| Date and
Time |
- | Oct. 1st, 2005, 02:10 pm | |
| Current Mood |
- |  jubilant | |
| Current Music |
- | squeaky and isobel chirping | |
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  | For the first time, scientists have captured images of a live giant squid--the largest invertebrate in the world--in its natural, deep-sea environment. The digital pictures not only show how Architeuthis attacks its prey, but suggest that the animal is more aggressive than previously thought.
For years, scientists have tried to spy on the colossal squid using different techniques, including observing from remote controlled submarines and strapping cameras to sperm whales, which are known to feed on the giant invertebrates. But they have always come up short. Zoologist Tsunemi Kubodera of the National Science Museum and Kyoichi Mori of the Ogasawara Whale Watching Association, both in Tokyo, Japan, finally triumphed in the deep ocean waters off the coast of the Ogasawara Islands, an archipelago 1,000 kilometers south of Japan.
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These deep ocean behemoths can get up to 60 feet long, use jet propulsion, can change colour at will, have eyes bigger than dinner plates, and possess large brains with ample intelligence and problem solving skills. They are also fierce predators, with a large beak for tearing into flesh. The photographed squid is 26 feet long. |
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| The Butt Worm
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| Date and
Time |
- | Jul. 1st, 2004, 08:53 pm | |
| Current Mood |
- |  high | |
| Current Music |
- | air conditioner and fan | |
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i read in national geographic there is a creature called the butt worm
the butt worm has nothing to do with asses
it is a creature that lives in the deep sea that looks like a cigarette butt
just thought i'd share that tidbit of information
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