Extinction

There are many creatures that don't get the press they deserve.
Especially when they are going to no longer exist.
Or just passed away- as the last of their kind.
You had no idea that your favorite animal, the cutest creature was even there!
Please see a pretty good list our recently departed here:
http://roboconsumer.wordpress.com/2007/09/23/extinct-mammals/

Take one of my favorite animals for instance:
The Rabbit Eared Bandicoot. (or the Bilby)

It is almost extinct... not yet- but on the verge...

It's cousins are already gone:
RIP Desert Bandicoot


RIP Pig-footed Bandicoot


a few more that are gone from this world:

Tasmanian Tiger (a large carnivorous marsupial)


Quagga


Queen of Sheeba Oryx


Passenger Pigeon


Baiji White Dolphin


Then again, It was believed that these two were extinct and these
cute little ones popped back up again!

Yay! for the squirrel/rat creature- The Laotian Rock Rat!
*Though probably could use some help getting re-populated?*


and of course the prehistoric fish- that never really left us!
The Coelacanth!


Lets hope there is a few Pig Footed Bandicoots hiding somewhere deep in the forest, or some Baiji White Dolphin lurking far up in some remote river bank-
FAR away from humans.

YES YES YES!

okay....

Fantasy creatures are the best- and I could go on about how they are a reflection
of our fears and our desires- and that we weld them into these mythical beings...
but I'll spare you for a little while.

This contest seemed fun anyway:
http://www.worth1000.com/contest.asp?contest_id=21347&display=photoshop

Pretty new found creature!

I need a dress with this pattern:


New toad found in the Surinamese Amazon.
Which is supposed to be one of the most intact areas of the Amazon rain forrest.

(funny... National Geographic didn't give out the name of the toad-
just said, "new toad")

Looks like a Poison dart frog, No?
And I'd happily take a dress in this pattern:


See?! Puma is kinda getting the idea! With their Poison dart frog series.


But I still like the original more!
(Not the greatest execution, could have been WAY fresh.)

Missing link

A missing link was found for the seal (and sea lion and walrus)- Puijila Darwini.
It has large feet that were probably webbed.
Here is more information about the Puijila:
http://nature.ca/puijila/index_e.cfm

Looks like a large otter.

(yes, that is my scientific two cents.)

memories.

Reflection.... ah.....




so cute.
nothing to do with science, but cute.

I guess I want to reflect on how modern day science affects me. *not necessarily you, but can include*
Being one with me- I am at the mercy of myself.
sorry folks.

Divine Creatures.

Now, that is what I call cute.

I've always had a fascination with Egypt, mummies, animal cults, etc.
I've been reading this book:



Which is actually very good, and not boring. (to me anyway)
Animal mummies may have served different purposes at different times.
(depending on the status of the kingdom during what era)
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_mummies

I find the mass graves of the different animal mummies so interesting.
(In cases though, it was not the animal being worshiped, but rather the God in which the animal represented- Thoth is the Ibis-headed god, Bastet the cat-headed god, Ra with the Falcon head, Anubis being the jackal-headed god... and so on...)
Also, there were whole jobs/professions that were devoted to say, making Ibis mummies for purchase as offerings to the god Thoth.
And sometimes they ran out of whole Ibises to wrap at the Ibis mummy factory *I'll continue with the Ibis example* to fill large orders
- so they just wrapped parts.
(If discovered for the partial mummies, it was blasphemy and they'd be punished!)


(IBIS and CROCODILE?)


(CAT)


(DOG)

They weren't always mummified as mass animal offerings though-
Some were mummified as food and protection for the afterlife. (dogs, goats, cattle)
and sometimes, you just want to be buried with your best friend when the time comes.

Jackalope

One of the best fantasy creatures... (or are they fantasy?)





This is me on one in Wall, South Dakota. (I love it there.)




This is another guy on the same one!


And lookie here!

This guy has an amazing Jackalope outfit- and has a whole myspace about it!
check him out at: www.myspace.com/iamjackalope

Well... They aren't really all fable!
From discovermagazine.com- (the article is actually about HPV.)

1932 – Reports of jackalopes—rabbits with horns—pique the interest of Richard Shope, a cancer researcher at the Rockefeller Institute. Working with Rous, he grinds up the tumors and injects the extract into other rabbits, which then develop the same deformity. This reveals that the “horns” are actually tumors caused by a contagious papillomavirus.

The real ones aren't as cute...


Some things I found out about the elusive Jackalope:
(thanks to a woman named Dindi!)
dindijewellery.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default
Her jewelry is so great! This piece caught my eye.


- Jackalope milk is particularly sought after because it is believed to be a powerful aphrodisiac (for which reason, the Jackalope is also sometimes referred to as the 'horny rabbit')
- crushed Jackalope horn is used as an active agent in a chemical adhesive. This glue is used to create Post-It notes

I know what I am going to be next Halloween!

The squirrel.

http://www.customcreaturetaxidermy.com/novelties/novelties_2aa.html

I actually had a ground squirrel as a pet.

His name was Squirrel-y. (or Rocky for those who know Bullwinkle.)
My grandparent's cat drug him to the front porch as a wee little thing.
and he was ours.

(they like to cuddle and fight over cheese and walnuts...
and chew up your math homework as "bedding")

Taxidermy is an art.
really.

People don't realize that without it, we'd hardly know so many creatures.

But this...

how novel (and a wee sad)!
great though.

Mammoths.

They found a baby mammoth.
In Russia.
Some interesting things happen there, huh!?

"(she) was named "Lyuba" after the wife of reindeer breeder and hunter Yuri Khudi who found her in Russia's Arctic Yamalo-Nenetsk region."

for roughly, 40,000 years she's been "put on ice."

I'm loving freezing temperatures for this reason (and this reason only.)

Also->
they are thinking about cloning Mammoths.
http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agenbroad.html

which is really intriguing... but can't stop thinking of Jurassic Park.

ohwhatthehell.

*I have a huge grin on my face.*
DO IT!

Tumor? Think again.

Artyom Sidorkin of Russia (28 years old) thought he was going into surgery to remove a tumor.
much to everyone's surprise-
It was actually a 3" fir tree found growing in his lung.


truth is stranger than fiction.

Apparently, he inhaled a seed pod.

I could think to myself, "What the hell! They need sunlight!"
then again, Firs and pines have lasted extinction, no sunlight, extreme temperatures and still grow as long as there is water.

ew.

Godspeed Artyom.

Hi!

Hello there!
I've never not vowed to start a blog.
Not once.


(me)

So be it.

Mainly, I am most inspired by the natural world.
I love animals. I mean LOVE them... and not in a way that a girl loves a pony... (*maybe a little*)
but in a way that makes me think, "They've done it first."
or rather, Mother nature... *at the expense of sounding like a tree hugger*
has done it first.

That... and there is just all this tasty food, smart scientists, etc.