[Dr. Zaius]

Rare Half-Giraffe, Half-zebra

Rare African okapi seen in wild
By James Morgan
Science reporter, BBC News

Okapi (ZSL)
These are the first photographs of wild okapi in Virunga National Park


An African animal so secretive it was once believed to be a mythical unicorn has been caught on camera in the wild. Camera traps set by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) in the Democratic Republic of Congo have captured rare pictures of wild okapi. The giraffe-like mammals, which have zebra-like stripes on their rear, are under threat from the bush meat trade.

The sightings in Virunga National Park prove the species is surviving in the jungle despite years of civil conflict. Dr Noelle Kumpel, ZSL's bush meat and forests conservation programme manager, said: "To have captured photographs of such a charismatic creature is amazing. Okapi are very shy and rare animals - which is why conventional surveys only tend to record droppings and other signs of their presence."

Okapis, which have a black tongue designed for grasping and holding, along with distinctive stripes on their behind, are the closest living relative of the giraffe.

Okapi (ZSL)
The rare mammals, related to giraffes, have distinctive striped coats


They were unknown to the western world until the early 20th Century, but are now known to inhabit three protected areas, of which Virunga National Park is one. Their abundance in the park is unknown as access to the forests of DRC is limited by civil conflict and poor infrastructure, making survey work difficult.

Poaching
The last official sighting in the area was nearly 50 years ago. But a survey in 2006 by conservation group WWF found their tracks on the west bank of the Semliki River, in the park's northern sector. The latest pictures were taken by traps set by ZSL in conjunction with the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN).

Thierry Lusenge, a member of ZSL's DRC survey team, added: "We have already identified three individuals, and further survey work will enable us to estimate population numbers and distribution in and around the Virunga Park, which is a critical first step in targeting conservation efforts." In addition to the ongoing civil war, the species is under threat from poaching. Okapi meat, reportedly from the park, is now regularly on sale in the nearby town of Beni.

The ZSL survey team has warned that if hunting continues at this rate, okapi could become extinct in the park within a few years.

I'm not really sure what to make of this one. It seems something untoward was going on in Noah's ark.

[Dr. Zaius]

Search for food causes dung beetles to become carnivores:

Little dung beetle is big chopper


By James Morgan
Science reporter, BBC News




It was rooted at the rear end of the food chain, but now the humble dung beetle is biting back.
A ferocious scarab species has been filmed in Peru attacking and eating millipedes 10 times its length. D. valgum no longer dines on faeces. Instead, the nocturnal predator prefers to decapitate live prey with its armour "teeth" and then devour their insides. It is a rare example of a scavenger species turning carnivore, say US scientists in a Royal Society journal. Dung beetles (Scarabaeidae) are not renowned for their predatory instincts.

It seems like such a huge jump - from a scavenger to a hunter-predator - so how did it get from A to Z?
Dr Adrian Forsyth,Blue Moon Fund

They feast on fresh animal faeces which they gather into balls and roll with their hind legs. But after the species Deltochilum valgum was seen grappling with millipedes several times its size, Dr Trond Larsen of Princeton University decided to find out whether it could actually be preying on the creatures.

Biting back
Working in the Peruvian rainforest, his team set up more than 1,000 traps containing different treats to tempt the beetles. These included a traditional menu of dung, fungus and fruit, as well as millipedes, which were live, injured or dead. They found D. valgum fed exclusively on the millipedes, preferring prey which were alive but injured.





Using infrared cameras, they filmed one adult beetle attacking and killing an injured millipede, which dwarfed it in size, by decapitating it with its body armour. "This is a remarkable transition," wrote Dr Larsen, a tropical ecologist, in the journal Biology Letters. Despite its close relationships with dung feeding species, D. valgum has entirely abandoned its ball-rolling behaviour. This is the first known case of an obligate predatory dung beetle species." The carnivorous beetles use the same mouthparts their cousins use to extract bacteria from dung and carrion as weapons to assault and kill their much larger prey.

I find it amazing that what we thought was just another dung beetle turned out to be something rather exceptional

Dr Adrian Forsyth,Blue Moon Fund

When placed together in observation chambers, the beetles began their attacks by grasping a millipede's body with its mid- and hind-legs. The millipedes - up to 110mm long - responded by coiling or flailing their bodies to resist the grip of beetles just 7-8mm wide. After waiting until the flailing slowed down, the beetles inserted their armour teeth between body segments, prying upwards with their head while simultaneously sawing with their fore-teeth. "During one kill we observed, the force of the beetle's prying severed the millipede's head from the rest of its body," said Dr Larsen.

One giant leap
The team say their discovery demonstrates how small changes in the physiology of a species can lead to giant leaps in its behaviour. The beetles were never seen rolling dung balls. Instead, they used their powerful hind legs to drag a killed millipede to a safe site and then begin devouring it.


Dung beetles' heads are usually flat and wide like a shovel in order to roll balls of dung but D. valgum has a narrow, pointy head which it uses to get right inside the millipede's body and feed on its insides. It also has sharper "teeth", which are used to prise open the body and sever it into smaller pieces. And unlike most dung beetle species, which bury their food, the remains of dead millipedes were left lying under leaves, entirely cleaned of their soft inner tissue.

"It seems like such a huge jump - from a scavenger to a hunter-predator - so the real story is, how did it get from A to Z?" said Dr Adrian Forsyth of the Blue Moon Fund, a co-author on the paper. We knew plenty of dung beetles which are attracted to dead insects - drawn by their potent cyanide-rich odours. And now we find a species which just couldn't wait. This is a beetle which says: 'It doesn't matter if it's dead or alive, I'm going to eat it'. It's a nice example of how you can take an apparently big step - to become a carnivore."

The scientists believe this unusual evolutionary transition was driven by high levels of competition for food.


Dung beetles undergo fierce competition for resources, both between species and within species. Adults are seen to aggressively defend their dung balls from competitors by pushing and chasing each other. The same behaviour was seen in beetles which had captured millipedes. The dramatic evolutionary leap could help to explain the coexistence of so many different types of insects, researchers say.

Taste test
However, this is not the first time the dung beetle has been shown to be more sophisticated than its name suggests. In 2006, researchers in Kuwait won an Ig Nobel Prize for a study showing that "dung beetles are fussy eaters". When offered dung from three herbivorous animals - horse, camel and sheep - the beetles preferred the more fluid horse dung to the others. Furthermore, the African dung beetle was the first animal found to navigate using moonlight, enabling it to orientate itself and make a hasty retreat from competitors when rolling a ball of dung.

So while they may be the butt of many jokes, it would be foolish to pooh-pooh their talents.
One of the beetle attacks was captured on night vision camera
The millipedes coiled up in defence against the beetles
Most dung beetle species feed on balls of faeces Instead of rolling dung balls, the beetle used its hind legs to drag millipedes

A hungry beetle searches for a new food source, and suddenly the scientists claim that it is proof of evolution. C'mon people, it just chose a new restaurant.

[Ezekiel Bathfire]

Originally Posted by Dr. Zaius

Search for food causes dung beetles to become carnivores:
A hungry beetle searches for a new food source, and suddenly the scientists claim that it is proof of evolution. C'mon people, it just chose a new restaurant.

Indeed, from time to time one comes across people who eat weird things; who can forget the late Brother Issachar Merryweather, who was famed for eating seaweed until his untimely demise at the hands (or whatever it is that they have) of a limpet. Brother Issachar was not evolved at all!

[Dr. Zaius]

Bird uses human fishing technique:

[Ezekiel Bathfire]

I am more than amazed! The bird shows as much intelligence as the Dove that returned an olive branch to Noah or, dare I say it, Balaam's speaking ass!

What sort of bird is it? A kingfisher?

[Dr. Zaius]

Here's an interesting article and some captivating video of whale behavior:

Hungry whales steal birds' dinner
By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News

Humpback whales have come up with a novel way for getting an easy snack - stealing birds' dinners.

A BBC crew filmed seabirds carefully corralling unwieldy shoals of herring into tightly packed "bait balls" from which the fish are easy to pluck.

But they discovered that passing whales would wait for the birds to complete their hard graft before devouring the ball of fish in a single gulp.

[Dr. Zaius]

This is my guardian rabbit:

[JennyD]

Originally Posted by Dr. Zaius

This is my guardian rabbit:

Imagine . . . If only that rabbit had been visiting with Eve that day in the Garden of Eden . . .

[A is for Allah]

Allah did well to accomplish these creatures
in Allah we trust, amen

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Originally Posted by A is for Allah

Allah did well to accomplish these creatures
in Allah we trust, amen

Don't come in here spewing your filthy moohammad lies! Your demonic moon god has no power here! JESUS CHRIST died (temporarily) on the cross for my sins, not some sand nigra who raped 6 year old girls!

Jesus always wins.

[Ezekiel Bathfire]

Here's a newly found creature; a mouse - now to you and me, this might look like any other mouse but this is a newly discovered part of God's Creation, so there must be a reason for it.

That it was found half way up a Peruvian mountain (where I assume there were no other types of mouse) just shows that evilution is a lie.

March 20, 2009--It seems even isolated mountain mice like to have a wash before getting their picture taken.

This recently bathed rodent is among four unexpected species likely new to science that were found high in the Peruvian Andes, scientists with the nonprofit Conservation International announced Thursday.

Expeditions between 2005 and 2008 in Peru's Cordillera Blanca, or White Range, also uncovered two new species of beetle and a rare wetlands plant.

The newfound mouse is a member of the Akodon genus, which includes many South American field mice.

Found at elevations between 9,449 feet (2,880 meters) and 15,528 feet (4,733 meters) above sea level, the new mouse is unique to some of the world's highest forests.

The roughly 3.5-inch-long (8.8-centimeter-long) mouse primarily eats insects and seeds, making it a vital player in the region's ecosystem, researchers say.

Globally, it's very rare to discover new mammal species, added team leader Constantino Aucca, president of the Association of Andean Ecosystems. (Related: "First New Mammal Found in Europe in 100 Years.")

"This is the best thing that has happened in this region in the past 10 to 20 years," Aucca said.
"Everybody's calling me a lucky guy!"
—Victoria Jaggard

If that's the best thing that's happened to the region in years, the place must otherwise be pretty Godless.

[Pastor Ezekiel]

Originally Posted by Ezekiel Bathfire

Here's a newly found creature; a mouse - now to you and me, this might look like any other mouse but this is a newly discovered part of God's Creation, so there must be a reason for it.

That it was found half way up a Peruvian mountain (where I assume there were no other types of mouse) just shows that evilution is a lie. If that's the best thing that's happened to the region in years, the place must otherwise be pretty Godless.

And no doubt the locals have been toasting them on sticks over campfires for generations. Leave it to some joo scientists to make a big deal out of a few field mice.

[A is for Allah]

Ahhh the mouse
very tasty with paprika and cinnamon

[Ezekiel Bathfire]

Originally Posted by A is for Allah

Ahhh the mouse very tasty with paprika and cinnamon

I suppose that is a meal fit for Allah/Alan or whoever in your culture.

God, of course, demands goat or lamb or even, sometimes, oxen... He has far superior culinary tastes to your moon-god oaf.

[Max Bayes]

Originally Posted by A is for Allah

Ahhh the mouse
very tasty with paprika and cinnamon

Only a moon-loving sandpleb would eat mice. The rest of us would see them as Vermin. They must be some sort of higher creature to you guys. Like that Douglas Adams fellow, the bloody Atheist. Having said that, even a book as Satanic as the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy with its anti-God subtext and its surrealist plot lines make much more sense than the rubbish you spout.

[Rev. M. Rodimer]

Here is some wonderful video of God's justice!

Mr. God-Mocking Shape-Shifting Deviant Caterpillar meets Ms. Godly Parasitic Wasp.

[Dr. Zaius]

That's pretty gross. I just posted something similar here.

[sunfowerggs]

Hello everyone. Nice to meet you all.

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[Rev. Jim Osborne]

Hello sun. Please go to the Introduction Forum (subforum of General Church Fellowship) and post an intro about yourself. This is not the thread to post in to say Hello.

[Dr. Zaius]

Here is a good video of some beautiful hummingbirds:

The mating display of the marvellous spatuletail hummingbird (Loddigesia mirabilis) is captured for the BBC natural history series Life.

His body is the size of a slightly fluffy ping-pong ball. His beak is the size of a matchstick. He is just tiny. And quite shy
Life producer Nikki Waldron

The species lives in just a few locations in Peru, and is unusual not just because of its rarity, but also because of its extreme mating behaviour.