Linkety-linkety
How had I never before heard of these? Sole-less Sandals. *want*
Texas ed board adopts social studies standards *weeps for the future*
Sexist Ad of the Day: Your Vagina is a Void
Experts say US doctors overtesting, overtreating
A breath of fresh air in China: Is the government of China easing up a bit on its official prudery toward ( Read more... )
Texas ed board adopts social studies standards *weeps for the future*
Sexist Ad of the Day: Your Vagina is a Void
Experts say US doctors overtesting, overtreating
A breath of fresh air in China: Is the government of China easing up a bit on its official prudery toward ( Read more... )
I'd not been aware of the wandering spider! What a gloriously nasty arachnid. Are they aggressive also? A lot of the funnel-web's reputation comes from its habit of actively attacking - I've seen footage of them actually chasing cats and dogs (to whom they're all but harmless, crazy stuff) For that matter, there's not been a funnel web fatality in over 25 years, apparently - I bet there've been redback deaths in that time, and the redback is, on paper at least, a far less dangerous creature (provided you check your boots in the mornings . . .)
I'm certainly aware of other venomous jellyfish. Dad thinks he got a minor Man O' War sting about 15 years ago - left a hell of a welt, at least! "Box" isn't a single species as I feel sure you're aware (I get the impression you're WAY better educated on the subject than I am . . .). The Sea Wasp (the one people think of when they say box jellyfish) is more deadly but also less unpleasant than the Irukandji jelly. Lovely little creature, and about the size of a thumbnail. Har.
I hadn't known that octopi are generally venomous! So the blue-ring octopus is only unusual in, well, its ability to kill an adult human? That interests me, definitely something I'll want to look at.
Mammals I'd forgotten about. The particular methods the platypus has are what I think is most interesting.
Cone shells in particular are pretty scary examples of a venomous creature - a sting you won't feel, from a seashell, can kill you. Ugh. Stonefish spines will puncture the base of a shoe, too, from what I've heard, and it's another marine creature that can easily kill. Again, very few human encounters, though. Cone shells killed a handful of tourists in the eastern states when I was a kid and I never heard the end of it, never mind that they just aren't over here. I still feel nervous while diving and this is part of the reason why. Cheers, mum!
I find it interesting that despite the sheer variety of dangerously venomous things in Australia (which is really what I was commenting on:)) we don't manage to have any dangerous scorpions, native wasps or any venomous lizards at all (although thorny devils are damned cool. Not venomous, just really, really cool)
Of course, Australia also lacks things like bears, wolves, large cats, hippos, and other big violent things, apart from crocodiles and sharks, of course. And at the end of the day, animals just aren't big killers of people in general.
Finally, regarding the giant isopod, I meant to post this before: http://www.topatoco.com/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TO&Product_Code=QC-PRETTY&Category_Code=QC-SHIRTS
in fact, that was the main reason I commented in the first place, and I forgot about it. What a nifty shirt.
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Wandering spiders are known to be aggressive, yes.
Box is the vulgar name for the group cubozoa, which includes 19 species. All are exceedingly dangerous, with four particular species being the most lethal. The Sea Wasp is actually two species just as the Irukandji is actually two species. Man-o-war isn't actually a jelly, but a communal organism that looks like one. Sea nettles are also dangerous because they come in swarms.
All octopi to my knowledge have some level of venom. The lethality of it to humans is only clearly documented in the Blue Ring, though that isn't to say that others may not be dangerous. Some of them have never been encountered by people swimming in the wild (dumbo octopus) and most are shy (mimic octopus).
Cone shells and stonefish I'm familiar with. Just as I'm familiar with the spines on the spiny dogfish (mild poison), lion fish, scorpion fish, and a host of other random animals. The area along your eastern flank includes the great barrier reef and reefs in general have a high percentage of toxic creatures including the coral itself. Hell there are an estimated 1,200 species of venomous fish wandering around and a good number of them are in the tropical waters of the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Australia often seems like it has more venomous critters, and toxin for toxin I'd wager it's worse, but that's because people think readily of snakes. On the other hand North America has lizards, snakes, fish, sharks, frogs, salamanders, mammals, and invertebrates of their own which range from very mild (can't harm humans) to dangerously lethal. In the end you're just like the rest of us and your niches as filled with a variety of venomous and non-venomous creatures.
I'd not seen that shirt before but I've got a tardagrada shirt that I got when doing research on the critters. Much cooler animals, albeit smaller.
Mother nature is not nice, but it'd rather not have to waste energy killing you.
Trivia, poisonous bird species:
Hooded Pitohui (New Guinea)
Variable Pitohui (New Guinea)
Brown Pitohui (New Guinea)
Blue-capped Ifrita (New Guinea)
Little Shrike-thrush (New Guinea, Indonesia, Australia)
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