Creature with powerful Venom

The first time I ever heard of a Chironex fleckeri, commonly known as the “box jelly fish,” “sea wasp” or “marine stinger,” I was told that it had tremendously powerful venom, and that it could kill in as little as 3 minutes. The box jellyfish is considered the most dangerous jellyfish and one of the most dangerous animals in the world.

A Chironex fleckeri is a type of jellyfish that is shaped like a box. They have four clusters of 15 tentacles trailing from each of the four corners of the jellyfish itself. It is pale blue in color and practically transparent, making it complex for swimmers to see them. They are found in northern Australia and are abundant in the waters during the time of the warmest months (November to April or May). In Australia quite a few measures have been implemented to try to keep people from being exposed to these animals, one of them is to net off the entire swimming areas and to warn people to swim only in those areas during the box jellyfish season. Another thing is the lifeguards wear 1mm Lycra suits, this is enough to protect their skin from being stung by the stinging cells from most breeds of jellyfish.

The stinging cells are very interesting though; they are tiny bags full of venom on the tentacles, so if the skin of their normal prey like shrimp comes into contact with them, they fire off. Once somebody is stung by a jellyfish, the natural reaction is to wipe off the adhering tentacles on the skin. What that does is it exposes more of the person’s skin to other stinging cells that has not fired off yet, so the way to do it is to take them off with tweezers and to add vinegar directly to the area that has the stinging cells. The vinegar will immediately inhibit stinging cells that have not shot off yet. The lifeguards in Australia have vinegar at the lifeguard station so that if this does happen, they will give it as topical treatment, it doesn´t do anything for the stinging cells that have already discharged into the skin, that venom is already on its way, but it does inhibit any of the stinging cells that have not discharged.
The descriptions from people that have been stung by a box jellyfish and lived through the experience are very uniform. The stinging produces excruciating pain, more pain than they can even handle, accompanied by an intense burning sensation. Quite often, the bodies reaction to a very large area that’s been stung is to go in anaphylactic shock, which causes somebody to stop breathing, and the heart to stop beating.

Someone would see a jellyfish and assume that it can sting, but this revelation that the box jellyfish can cause death so quickly is surely just shocking for most people. A box jellyfish is simply a glob of jelly that moves around with no brain, no lungs and no heart. This is a very simple, very primitive beast and the fact that it can cause death in people so quickly, is a conundrum. People have a hard time getting their ideas around that, but it’s true. Nevertheles, not all species of box jellyfish are this dangerous to humans.

Elephant with Slippers

The zoo keepers of Paignton Zoo Enviromental Park in Denvon offered a 40 year old Asian Elephant named Gay a comfy pair of elephant slippers. I guess you are probably wondering to yourself why an elephant would want to wear a pair of slippers. Well, apparently Gay had sore feet. The zoo keepers noticed that she had an abscess on her right front foot last year and this year January another abscess appeared on her left front foot. After treating her with regular pedicures, anti-inflammatory treatments and so on, the zoo keepers reached the conclusion that what she needed was for a specialty animal-products company to handcraft a special pair of high-tech, breathable slippers for her. These slippers were fabricated in Australia, and cost a little over 400 dollars.

Fortunately, with these new slippers, Gay will feel much better, they will help her feet to heal and alleviate her pain. Elephants are capable of getting painful feet for several different reasons; some of them are posture, age, arthritis and bruising (for standing on stones).

The Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef can be found off the shore of Queensland in northeast Australia. It is known to have the largest coral reef system on earth, with something like 3.000 individual reefs and 900 islands which stretches about 2.600 km over an area of more or less 344.400 square kilometers. This natural beauty contains the world’s largest collection of corals (more than 400 different types of coral). It is also regarded as the world’s biggest single structure made by living organisms. The reef has been built by billions of tiny organisms called coral polyps.

The Reef is home to a huge variety of sea creatures, including many venerable or threatened with extinction species such as the large Green Sea Turtle and the Dugong (Sea Cow). Many dolphins, whales and reptiles have been seen at the Reef. The Great Barrier Reef has become a popular destination for tourists. It possesses tropical islands with the world’s most beautiful beaches. The tourist love to take photos of the reefs natural beauty and many scuba divers are attracted to the breathtaking beauty of the underwater coral gardens.
In recognition of its importance, UNESCO listed The Great Barrier Reef as a world heritage site in 1981. This natural beauty is the only living thing on earth that can be seen from space. It is considered as one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and has once again been nominated for the New 7 Wonders of Nature (the results will be revealed in 2011).

Regrettably, there are threats to the Great Barrier Reef. The impact of humans are among these threats. The crown-of-thorns starfish are eating the coral polyps resulting in an increase in the number of starfish because their natural predator, the triton, is prized by the humans for its shell. This has caused a drop in the triton numbers and an increase in starfish, and the destruction of large areas of coral. Pollution is another problem because coral can only grow on clear water. Oil spills of ships can destroy large sections of the reefs. Visitors walking on the reef also destroy coral.

Intelligent Creature With Three Hearts

The above image that you are looking at is a beautiful Blue-ringed Octopus in the sea. These guys are master in camouflage; they can change color as well as skin texture. This color-changing ability is used for protection against predators and also to communicate with or warn other octopuses. In several species, they are capable of taking on the prickly appearance of seaweed or even the uneven texture of a rock, amongst other disguises. On the other hand, other species are limited to relatively pattern less shades of one color, and limited skin texture.

Octopuses move around by crawling or swimming. Some have even been observed walking on two arms, while at the same time resembling plant matter. When they are hungry or in some sort of danger, they flee quickly by swimming headfirst with their eight arms trailing behind and if we are lucky we may get to see what´s called jet propulsion which is the only time you´ll see an octopus go real fast. Most octopuses do not have internal or external skeleton, this enables them to squeeze through very tight places. Another interesting thing about octopuses is that they have three hearts. Two of them pump blood through each of the two gills, and at the same time the third heart pumps blood through the body.

I wouldn’t recommend having these guys as pets because they often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure. They are capable of breaking out from their aquariums and sometimes into others looking for food. Octopuses have been observed playing in their aquariums by repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current and then catching them. They are highly intelligent creatures, possibly the most intelligent of all invertebrates.

Erta Ale Volcano

Erta Ale is a phenomenal volcano located in the Afar region of the northeastern Ethiopia which is known to have a persistent lava lake activity. It rises more than 600m from below sea level in the barren Danakil depression, a desert area stretching across the border with Eritrea.
This remarkable volcano of incomparable beauty is the most active in Ethiopia; it is notable for erupting continuously since the early nineteen hundreds, making it one of the longest continuously erupting volcanoes in the world. Erta Ale, or the “Smoking Mountain” in the language of the Ethiopian people, is classified as a shield volcano. It is 613m high; the summit caldera has two large steep-sided pit craters (north and south) and one smaller pit situated at the southeast side of the north pit. The caldera has an elliptical structure with approximate dimensions of 1600 x 700m.

Volcanoes are one of nature’s most breathtaking and destructive forces. When a volcanic eruption takes place, it releases a huge amount of energy which is far greater than the energy of the most powerful nuclear bomb. However, they are also the life force of our planet. They can form great mountains and create new land.
Volcanoes bring to the surface many of the minerals that plants need in order to grow well. In a way, this has led to trouble because people have gathered round the fertile volcanic regions. And because of this, eruptions have now and then killed many people and done great damage to poverty.

Erta Ale´s last major eruption took place on the 25th of September 2005, which unfortunately killed numerous livestock and forced thousands of people to flee from their homes. In August 2007, additional lava flow took place forcing hundreds of people to evacuate their homes and leaving two missing.

See more images of Erta Ale Volcano

Interesting Facts About Bees

Bees are known as the only insects that produce food for man. They are responsible for pollinating about one-third of the foods we consume. Besides honey, they also produce beeswax. These flying insects can be found on any continent (besides Antarctica) that contains insect-pollinated flowering plants. The best known bee species are the European honey bees. They also happen to be the ones that I like the most because, as its name suggests, they produce honey (as do a few other types of bee) and I love eating food made with honey.
Among the various species of bees, there are both solitary and social bees. The Solitary bees typically produce neither honey nor beeswax. Of all the Social bee species, the honeybee has the most organized society. A colony of honeybees is headed by the queen who is usually the mother of all the bees in the hive. The queen bee lays eggs from early spring to the end of summer. During its lifetime of about 5 to 7 years, it may lay up to 100.000.000 eggs.

The males of the colony, known as the drones have only one function, they fertilize the eggs the queen lays. The female bees are the worker bees. The drones hatch from unfertilized eggs and females (queens and worker bees) hatch from fertilized eggs. One of the most important tasks of the female bees is to collect the pollen and nectar from the flowers to supply the hive. The pollen provides protein for the bees, and the nectar is stored in open cells where it will dry into honey.
Bees that have found food sources containing high concentrations of nectar go back to the hive to tell the others the good news. They use a pattern of “dancing” which varies from species to species, which tells the other bees the location and distance of their discovery. Worker bees who attend the queen bee lick a substance from its body. They pass this substance from one to another as a communication that the queen is well. Should the queen die or vanish, the news would rapidly be passed around. The bees would then find a new queen.

Insect Camouflage in Nature

Many insects blend into their surroundings so completely that it is difficult to see them. They possess some form of disguise called camouflage, for many reasons, one of them is to deceive predators. Camouflage is one of the secret weapons that these insects have to defend themselves from being captured by their natural enemies.

Among the beautiful surroundings that nature has to offer us, there are many disguised insects. Some “caterpillars” carry out the shape and color of the leaf so perfectly that it makes the caterpillar seem as if it is part of the leaf. They can move freely among the leaves without being noticed. Another interesting insect is the “leaf insect” which has a flat body and, as its name suggests, looks remarkably like a leaf in appearance. The wings, antennae, and legs are all leaf-shaped too. Its color varies from wine red to grass green, with shadings of brown. During the daytime hours it is extremely still – so still that it looks like loose or dead leaf on the ground. With the coming of darkness, it starts to move, and during the night it moves around freely.

Insects are also outstanding imitators. Imitation is one of the ways they have to watch themselves from their natural enemies. Some insects take on the appearance of another animal to deceive a predator. This kind of imitation is called mimicry. The owlet moth provides a fascinating example of mimicry. The markings on the lower part of its wings look like the two big eyes of an owl. When the wings are folded and the moth is relaxing, the design is not visible. But when the moth is threatened by a predator, which is usually a bird, it unfolds its wings and the two eyes suddenly come into sight like the eyes of an owl. Startled, the predator flies away, this helps the owlet moth gain a few seconds to fly away as well.