Nature can be bizarre, scary, revolting

[Nelson]

...........The spider, known as an ornate golden baboon, has a fat body 5 inches long that is covered in orange hair. Male baboon spiders can have a leg span of about 8 inches, and the female is even larger.


Gross said he was glad the owner, whose name was not released, called the SPCA instead of dumping the spider.


"This spider is so aggressive, it will bite you just to bite you," he said. "It's not a pet you want to cuddle up with at night."


Baboon spiders have a life span of up to 25 years, are native to southern Africa and spend most of their time near their nests, which are usually holes in the ground.


The SPCA took the spider to a sanctuary for reptiles and other animals.


http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070817/D8R2U4R02.html

[Nelson3]

Finally, I've found a creature that's as cruel as a human being -- and as sophisticated in it.

Ampulex wasps sting the roach more than once and in a specific way. The first sting is directed at nerve ganglia in the cockroach's </span>thorax;
temporarily paralyzing the victim for 2–5 minutes, which is more than
enough time for the wasp to deliver a second sting. The second sting is
directed into a region of the cockroach's brain that controls the
escape reflex, among other things.</span><sup style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" id="cite_ref-27" ="reference">[</span>28]</span></sup>
When the cockroach has recovered from the first sting, it makes no
attempt to flee. The wasp clips the antennae with its mandibles and
drinks some of the </span>hemolymph
before walking backwards and dragging the roach by its clipped antennae
to a burrow, where an egg will be laid upon it. The wasp larva feeds on
the subdued, living cockroach.</span><br style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach#Role_as_pests

[Nelson3]

"Coming soon to a backyard near you"?

http://www.newsoftheweird.com/archive/index.html
Entomologists in San Antonio said in May that the "Rasberry ant" (whose
colonies produce billions and cover everything in sight) had migrated north to
within 75 miles of the city and would arrive by year's end, posing, said one, a
"potential ecological disaster." [KENS-TV (San Antonio), 5-18-09]</font>

Crazy Rasberry Ants</span>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyLfSemVM3Y

Paratrechina species near pubens</span>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_ants

Later. </font>

Meerkats are an enchanting wonder of nature and were the cover story of the Sept. 2002 National Geographic. The sad news there is that different colonies of these famously loving, communal creatures are constantly engaged in turf wars, or as the NG put it, their babies are in constant danger of being eaten by neighboring colonies spoiling for more territory. But animals are still better than people IMHO.

Edited by: Nelson3

[Nelson3]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...pe/france/6049 302/Tourists-warned-as-Asian-hornets-terrorise-French.html
<h2>Tourists are being warned to steer clear of </span>[honeybee-eating</span>] Asian hornets that are
colonising France, after swarms of the aggressive predators attacked
seven people. </span></h2>By Henry Samuel in Paris </span><br style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">

Published: 6:00AM BST 19 Aug 2009</span>

The article sounds extremely scary -- the Killer Bees movie come to life. "The victims
were treated in hospital for multiple stings, which are said to be as
painful as a hot nail piercing the skin.... </span><br style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">
Squadrons of the insects hover over hives and pick off hapless honeybees in
mid-air. A handful can destroy a nest of 30,000 bees in just a couple of
hours.


In Asia, honeybees form a ball of workers around the intruder and kill it by
heatstroke. But in France, the technique appears to have no effect."
Buried in the article is the "it's a small world" origin of this headline from hell -- OK, it's even in an added comment: "The point everyone seems to miss here is that these things arrived via a
shipment of pottery from China. Global import/export is responsible for
maore damage than warming ever will be. Ask any old time Aussie what
happened when mice came ashore from ships onto the land."</span>

[Nelson3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ph...x_taeniolatus1. jpg

Later.

</span> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,...html?loomia_ow =t0:s0:a16:g2:r2:c0.216779:b28681033:z10
<h1 style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Enormous Jellyfish Sink Japanese Fishing Boat</h1>Off the coast of Obama, Fukui Prefecture, Japan.</span>[img]smileys/smiley2.gif[/img]<br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">LATER... a horrifying tale which nonetheless signals a great breakthrough in one of the most miserable situations that confront ethicists, medicine, law and families.</span><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Watch what you say around the ostensibly unconscious! And always remember the motto by which /\/.\/\/. stumblingly attempts to live: </span>never assume anything.</span> <br style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><h2 style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Patient trapped in a 23-year coma was conscious all along</h2>
Posted By Staff


<div style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">

<div>

Date: November 22nd, 2009</div>

<div>

1 Comment</div>

<div>

Category: Nutty News</div>



</div>
Zolder,
Belgium - A man thought by doctors to be in a vegetative state for 23
years was actually conscious the whole time, it was revealed. Student
Rom Houben was misdiagnosed after a car crash left him totally
paralysed. He had no way of letting experts, family or friends know he
could hear every word they said. I screamed, but there was nothing to
hear, said Mr Houben, now 46. Doctors used a range of coma tests,
recognised worldwide, before reluctantly concluding that his
consciousness was extinct. But three years ago, new hi-tech scans
showed his brain was still functioning almost completely normally. More�LATER..... I can think of a better name for this cootie: http://www.livescience.com/animals/m...lling-parasite s-fossil-leaf-100817.html
<h1 style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Mind-Controlling Parasites Date Back Millions of Years</h1>
By Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience Contributor
posted: 17 August 2010 07:05 pm ET




&lt;&gt;
var URI = escape(document.URL);
var url = escape('/animals/mind-controlling-parasites-fossil-leaf-1008 17.html');
var title = escape("Mind-Controlling+Parasites+Date+Back+Millions+of+Yea rs");
var str = 'url='+URI+'&amp;title='+title;

var htmlstr = '<div> del.icio.us</div>';
htmlstr += '<div> Digg It!</div>';
htmlstr += '<div> Newsvine</div>';
htmlstr += '<div> reddit</div>';
function show_print(){

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}




<div style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" id="art_toolbar">
<div>

&lt;&gt;document.write('');




&lt;&gt;document.write('<scr'+'ipt showbranding="0" src="%20http://d.yimg/ds/badge%20badgetype=" small="" border="0">livescience:'+document.URL+'</scr'+'ipt>')&lt;script showbranding="0" src="http://d.yimg.com/ds/badge badgetype="small"&gt;livescience: http://www.livescience.com/animals/m...lling-parasite s-fossil-leaf-100817.htmlBuzz up!</span></span>


<div id="share_items" style="display: n&#111;ne;">
&lt;&gt; document.write(htmlstr); <div> del.icio.us</div><div> Digg It!</div><div> Newsvine</div><div> reddit</div>
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<div id="pk_com_rec" style="text-align: left;">Comments(6)|Recommend(7)</span></div>
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<div style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" id="related_images_module">
<div id="ri_imgHolder"></div>
<div id="ri_capti&#111;n">A
parasitic fungus stalk erupted from the head of a dead carpenter ant
whose jaws are gripping the underside of a leaf's major vein. Credit:
David Hughes.</div>
<div id="ri_c&#111;ntrols">
<div id="ri_enlarge">Full Size</div>
<div>


</div>
<div id="ri_count">1 of 2</div>
</div>
<dl><dt></dt><dd>A
parasitic fungus stalk erupted from the head of a dead carpenter ant
whose jaws are gripping the underside of a leaf's major vein. Credit:
David Hughes.</dd><dt><a href="http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?s=animals&amp;c=news&amp;l=&#111;n &amp;pic=fossil-leaf-100817-02.jpg&amp;cap=A+fossil+leaf+with+what+appear+to+b e+telltale+scars+&#111;n+its+major+veins+that+matc h+those+made+nowadays+by+the+death+grips+of+carpen ter+ants+%28Camp&#111;notus+le&#111;nardi%29+infec ted+with+the+mind-c&#111;ntrolling+fungus+O.+unilateralis.+Credit%3A +Torsten+Wappler.&amp;title=" target="_blank" target="_blank">
Mind control by parasite sounds like the stuff of science
fiction, but not only have scientists revealed that it is real across a range
of animals � including perhaps humans � they now even have fossil evidence
suggesting it has taken place for millions of years.
</a>



<a href="http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?s=animals&amp;c=news&amp;l=&#111;n &amp;pic=fossil-leaf-100817-02.jpg&amp;cap=A+fossil+leaf+with+what+appear+to+b e+telltale+scars+&#111;n+its+major+veins+that+matc h+those+made+nowadays+by+the+death+grips+of+carpen ter+ants+%28Camp&#111;notus+le&#111;nardi%29+infec ted+with+the+mind-c&#111;ntrolling+fungus+O.+unilateralis.+Credit%3A +Torsten+Wappler.&amp;title=" target="_blank" target="_blank">An unnerving variety of parasites have evolved the ability
to control the brains of victims to help the parasites spread. For instance,
the protozoan known as </span></a><a href="http://www.livescience.com/technology/060210_technovelgy.html" target="_blank" target="_blank">Toxoplasma
gondii</span></a> </span>makes rats love cat urine</span> so that it can spread
among its feline hosts � and it may influence human culture</span> as well,
making people more prone to certain forms of neuroticism.




Another case of parasite mind control involves the fungus </span><em style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">Ophiocordyceps
unilateralis[/i], which essentially </span>turns ants into zombies</span>. It
maneuvers the insects into biting down on the major veins of the undersides of
leaves just before they die � the fungus then rapidly grows a stalk from their
victims' heads, releasing spores to infect more ants.</span>..........


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps_unilateralis



</dt></dl></div>Edited by: Nelson3

[Nelson3]

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/...aspx?cp-docume ntid=100264049&amp;imageindex=1 <br style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"><div style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" id="slideshowTitle" ="standardSlideshow">
<h1>Strange Things That Grow Inside the Body</h1></div>
<div style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" id="slideshowDei&#111;n" ="standardSlideshow">
<div>Your body is not only a temple, but
also a motel that hosts some surprising
guests.</div></div>
<div style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);" id="slideshowByline" ="standardSlideshow">ByLinda
Wasmer Andrews for MSN Health &amp; Fitness</div>

[Nelson3]

Shocking...... a bug from hell with a 1/4"-long stinger. Will our politicians make sure it comes here?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_hornet

Revolting....... a bug from Alaska whose venom turns brains to mush:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/denninger2.1.1.html
palin tea party speech</span>
LATER. This was reported in Drudge and many other places but proved to be a hoax:

<tt>...Bacteria's Arsenic Diet Redefines 'Life As We Know It'</tt>

Edited by: Nelson3

[Nelson3]

NOTW

Biologists Studying Rare
Species Have to Be Quick: Researchers learned from reports in early
2010 of a new monkey species in Myanmar, with a nose so recessed that
it habitually collects rainfall and constantly sneezes. However,
according to an October National Geographic dispatch, by the time
scientists arrived to investigate, natives had eaten the monkey. (The
sneezing makes them easy for hunters to detect.) (Researchers studying
a rare species of Vietnamese lizard had an easier time in November.
After learning of the species and rushing to Ba Ria-Vung Tau province,
a two-man team from La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif., found
the lizards being routinely served in several restaurants' lunch
buffets.) [National Geographic, 10-27-10] [CNN, 11-10-10] </font>

Researchers at the University
of Queensland revealed in November that parrot fish, which reside on
Australia's reefs and need protection from blood-sucking, lice-like
parasites, shelter themselves at bedtime with blankets of "snot."
Typically, the fish's mouth-slobber, once it starts dribbling out,
takes about an hour to ooze into place. [Wired.com, 11-18-10] </font>

LATER.

FP
<br style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">NewsLink• Science
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02-04-2011 </font>• </font>arclein</font><br style="color: rgb(102, 0, 0);">The
simmering volcano has produced major eruptions—each a thousand times
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Read Comments</font>•</font>
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Edited by: Nelson3

[Nelson4]

Isn't this interesting! Wasn't Velikovsky persecuted for similar?

The forming of supercontinents and their breaking up appears to be cyclical through Earth's 4.6 billion year history. There may have been several others before Pangaea. The fourth-last supercontinent, called Columbia or Nuna, appears to have assembled in the period 2.0-1.8 Ga.[4][5]

Columbia/Nuna broke up and the next supercontinent, Rodinia, formed from the accretion and assembly of its fragments. Rodinia lasted from about 1.1 billion years ago (Ga) until about 750 million years ago but its exact configuration and geodynamic history are not nearly as well understood as the later supercontinents, Pannotia and Pangaea.

When Rodinia broke up, it split into three pieces: the supercontinent of Proto-Laurasia, the supercontinent of Proto-Gondwana, and the smaller Congo craton. Proto-Laurasia and Proto-Gondwanaland were separated by the Proto-Tethys Ocean. Next Proto-Laurasia itself split apart to form the continents of Laurentia, Siberia and Baltica. Baltica moved to the east of Laurentia, and Siberia moved northeast of Laurentia.The splitting also created two new oceans, the Iapetus Ocean and Paleoasian Ocean.