Saturday, February 19, 2011

News from the Animal Kingdom


Okay, here's the question of the day. Would you rather . . .

A. Provide a nightly feast for malaria-carrying mosquitoes?

or . . .

B. Live in a house that reeks of smelly socks--and share those quarters with the beast shown above?

Believe it or not, this may soon be a question that millions of people will be answering. Scientists have discovered that the mosquito-eating East-African jumping spider (above) is attracted by the odor of stinky socks. People who invite a few of these lovely arachnids into their homes may run a lower risk of contracting malaria. (I'm gonna have to think about this one. I have a real problem with spiders.) Read more here.


Next up . . . Australians are being warned to be on the look-out for cassowaries--giant (six foot tall) birds that can kill a person with a single kick. Their habitat was destroyed by a cyclone, and now the birds are wandering into human territory. Yikes! You Australians have really had a tough time of it lately!


One more question. Would you rather . . .

A. Have your home swallowed by a voracious vine?

or . . .

B. Have it invaded by stinky bugs?

If you live in the Southeastern US, you might not have a choice in the matter. More here. Come to think of it, another kind of stink bug has invaded Brooklyn. What's going on here?!?


And finally, I give you blanket octopus!!! This rarely-seen creature was snapped off the coast of Florida recently. Beautiful--and kind of terrifying.

9 comments:

Kitty said...

Stink bugs.. Their presence still haunts us now...

UU said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TVPYf9Rlhw

AMAZING CLIP of the blanket octopus. Just beautifuk

Anonymous said...

Back in the 1980's I was hearing from people who'd been in Papua New Guinea that Cassowary birds sound silly, but they're genuine feathered killers.

Robert in San Diego

Anonymous said...

Right, now how do I work a blanket octapus into a 250 word long romance?

Robert in San Diego

Anonymous said...

Blanket Octopus???? the hey??? Where are they eyes, even??

anonymous science-fiction writer24495 said...

Wow, blanket octopi are cool. I just wonder how they're immune to the jellyfish and if research of that can help humans somehow... As for the spiders, thank you for sharing that. If I ever go to East Africa, I know to take my brother wth me.

Toodles*** said...

Ok. Let's see.

1) Definitely catch malaria. Anything over spiders.

2) Cassowaries creep me out. Alot. But thankfully, I haven't seen one outside of the zoo. But that's still bizarre. Thank god i don't live in Queensland.

3) Easily have my home swallowed by a vine. I hate bugs. Alot.

4) And lastly, that octopus is so cool!!! I wish I could see one. Behind a glass wall, of course XD

Juliana said...

I like giant squids better ;D

Lucy Betz said...

cool animals!
The animal world is awesome