After months of blissful 65 degree days with skies gray as wet stone (that led me to dream of a summer in which I wouldn’t have to pack my scarf away) Seattle seems to have suddenly realized it is in fact summer now and has been doing its damnedest to catch up. Today, the wretched twin bitches of Seattle in the summertime, cloudless heat and obnoxious humidity, ran rampant.
But my fair city has had enough, lashing out from the clouds we know and passive-aggressively love so well to break the wretched heat and provide we nocturnal, coffee-swilling albinos with a much needed respite, a beautiful display, and a lovely crashing accompaniment.
A research team in Brazil studying moths, the caterpillars of which feed on leaves of the native guava tree and on an exotic eucalyptus, noticed that they were sometimes attacked by parasitoid wasps, which would insert up to 80 eggs into them. The infected caterpillar continues going about its normal routine, while inside the eggs hatch and begin to feed on its precious bodily fluids. All of this is fairly par for the course, as far as parasite/host relationships go, however, what happened when the larvae have matured came as a bit of a surprise:
When the parasitoid larvae are full-grown, they emerge together through the host’s skin, and start pupating nearby. Unlike many other combinations of host and parasitoid, the host remains alive but displays spectacular changes in its behaviour: it stops feeding and remains close to the parasitoid pupae. Moreover, it defends the parasitoid pupae against approaching predators with violent head-swings.
When the parasitoids emerge from their pupae state the caterpillar dies; having lived a life being leeched of its vital juices and later turned into a zombie bodyguard.
Are you a seal? Are you young, inexperienced and confused? Are you a lake of roiling sexual frustration, mingled with feelings of inadequacy and rage? If so, you may want to seriously consider attempting to rape a king penguin!
At least that’s what scientists seemed to have witnessed on a beach on the sub-Antarctic Marion Island when a fur seal pinned down a king penguin:
“At first glimpse, we thought the seal was killing the penguin,” says Nico de Bruyn, of the Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, South Africa.
It became clear, however, that the aforementioned seal’s intentions were less than savory:
The 100kg seal first subdued the 15kg penguin by lying on it.
The penguin flapped its flippers and attempted to stand and escape - but to no avail.
The seal then alternated between resting on the penguin, and thrusting its pelvis, trying to insert itself, unsuccessfully.
After 45 minutes the seal gave up, swam into the water and then completely ignored the bird it had just assaulted, the scientists report.
Scientists theorized that the seal, being too young to win the attention of a female, turned his eye on the next available animal. They believe it was a one-off occurrence, as no other instances of this nature have been reported. The penguin seems to have survived the experience unharmed, at least physically. No doubt it will be left with some pretty hefty emotional baggage.
The dwindling bee population is an issue that concerns us greatly. Not only do we enjoy the sweet fruits of bee labor, but the glorious gardens through which we wheel Ross on his day trips from “the home” would cease to exist were it not for the hard work of our striped mascot’s forebears.
Adam Makarenko is a photographer that grieves the tragic loss of the bee with us, producing stunning photographs of the world of Langstroth Range, a bee paradise in which they drift lazily among fields populated with only the most rare, delectable plants and take on a monstrous size more in keeping with the pants-shitting terror they inspire in the uninformed.
There remains no explanation for the mysterious disappearance of the bees, but if there is indeed a just and loving Creator in this universe it has transported them to this wonderland free from cell phone death rays and douchebag frat boys with a freezer and some string. Now if only I could find a saddle and a way in.
If you were planning on having intimate relations with a crustacean in the near future Ectomo would like to offer up this tale of warning. This is an anomuran crab. Quite a looker to be sure. Any marine fetishist would love to put this notch in their bedpost, but look closer. Attached to this exquisite beauty is a parasite known as a rhizocephalan. This particular rhizocephalan is named Briarosaccus callosus and it is nature’s cock-block.
A multinational expedition has discovered an array of new species in the deep waters off the coast of eastern Antarctica, including giant jellyfish and sea-spiders the size of dinner plates. The AP story above does a good job of explaining some of the particulars but this clip is both beautiful and eerie. As the camera sweeps along the ocean floor wriggly, Lovecraftian crinoids emerge from the reefs, retreating from the encroaching light while elsewhere a cephalopod stays just out of reach and a flat fish ray swims lazily, ambivalent to prying eyes. These people really have the coolest job.
These pictures are from a small town in Estonia. There seems to be some debate in the link’s comments section as to the cause of the ice’s brownish tinge, with some saying pollution and some saying naturally occurring minerals in the water. Others, it seems, blame Nazis which, when all else fails, is always worth a shot.
Proving that parasitic worms are not limited to the nightmares of snails, scientists from the University of California Berkeley and the University of Arkansas have discovered a parasitic nematode, since named Myrmeconema neotropicum, which works its infernal magic on ants.
The round worm was observed infecting black ants, found in Panamanian forests. Once infected, the worms turn the ants’s abdomens bright red, making them resemble berries; thereby enticing birds, who would otherwise not eat the foul tasting insects, to consume them. The worms then lay eggs in the bird, which are deposited in their excrement. The ants feed the bird droppings to their young and the whole horrific process begins anew.
The Asian giant hornet is the worlds largest hornet, reaching lengths of up to 2.2 inches. Their venom is acidic, and contains mandaratoxin which, in sufficient doses, can cause death in humans, even those without allergies. Asian giant hornets are responsible for about seventy deaths a year. The venom also contains a pheromone that attracts other hornets, allowing them to predate in groups.
It is this which helps them to overcome European honey bee hives. Thirty hornets can massacre thirty-thousand European honey bees, which they behead or bisect with their powerful jaws, and whose stingers cannot penetrate the hornet’s thick exoskeleton. They then consume the bees’s honey and take the bees’s larvae back with them, to feed their young.
The native Japanese honey bee, however, has figured out a way to fight back. When the initial hornet scout approaches the hive they lure it inside. Once inside, they swarm the hornet en masse, covering it entirely and keeping it from moving. They then begin to vibrate their flight muscles. This has the effect of raising the temperature of the honey bee mass to 47 °C (117 °F). The honey bees can just tolerate this temperature, but the hornets cannot survive more than 45 °C (113 °F), and are effectively roasted alive.
Found only on the islands of Oahu, Molokai, Maui, and Hawaii, the happy face spider, such as this one guarding its eggs on a leaf in Maui, is known for the unique patterns that decorate its pale abdomen. Scientists believe Theridion grallator may have developed its distinctive markings to discourage birds from eating it.
Metallic sodium reacts violently with water—it literally burns when it gets wet. Most people who took highschool chemistry know this, and the slice-of-sodium-in-a-glass-of-water demonstration is usually everyone’s favorite. Now, take 20,000 pounds of metallic sodium and “dispose” of it by rolling it into a frozen lake. The result? Instant Massive Completely Bad-Assed Explosions. And neither Frank Darabont nor Michael Bay were involved!
Cymothoa exigua is a parasitic crustacean like no other, as it does not just live in its host but actually replaces part of it. First it attaches itself at the base of the tongue of the chosen fish, with the claws on its front three pairs of legs, and begins to extract blood. As the parasite grows, less and less blood is able to reach the tongue, and eventually the organ atrophies and dies, at which time the parasite attaches to the muscles of the tongue stub replacing the tongue with its own body. The fish is able to use the parasite as a fully functional tongue and the parasite survives on food particles, relieving the stress on the host’s appropriated circulatory system.
The replacement tongue [polyscience.org] : Spluch
In sheer defiance of the World Wide Web Consortium's will, Ectomo was designed using a non-web-standard font. Luckily, it is included in the excellent font pack released by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society, which can be freely downloaded in Mac and PC formats here. Ectomo should still look fine without it, though.
