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The Twisted Relationship Between American Cockroaches and Jewel Wasps
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Nature is a stage where astonishing dramas unfold, showcasing the intricate web of relationships between diverse organisms. One such mesmerizing tale is the peculiar association between the American cockroach ( Periplaneta americana) and the jewel wasp ( Ampulex compressa). The relationship between these two species is unique and fascinating. The female jewel wasp wasp has a specialized predatory behavior that involves using American cockroaches as hosts for their offspring. The wasp targets the American cockroach as a living nursery for its developing young. It does so by injecting a venomous sting into specific parts of the cockroach's nervous system, temporarily paralyzing its front legs. Once the cockroach is immobilized, the wasp leads it ...
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1679 |
bio_man |
A year ago |
Praying mantises are the only invertebrates known to see in 3D
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Any animal capable of seeing in 3D, such as humans, have the ability to visually perceive depth. No other insect but the Praying mantis is capable of this. Because of this, this predatory insect excels at detecting prey that comes within striking distance, but unlike us, their depth perception only works when the prey is moving. In a new study, scientists glued the world’s tiniest 3D glasses (above, left) on 20 praying mantises ( Sphodromantis lineola) and showed them a series of movies depicting patches of moving dots that were camouflaged against a matching background, and which are perceived as potential prey items to the insect. The insects tried to catch these dots that appeared to be within 2.5 centimeters of their perch. And they coul ...
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1304 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
One of the world's largest insects
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If you're not an insect lover, this is your final chance to turn your head!The giant Malaysian katydid ( Macrolyristes corporalis) is one of the largest insects in the world, with their bodies growing to 15 cm (6 inches) long with a 25 cm (10 inch) long wingspan. Though the last thing you want to hear is that this giant insect is carnivorous, they pose absolutely no threat to humans (aside from haunting your dreams, of course). Relatively speaking, the males of this species have the largest testes of any known animal at 14% of their body weight. If humans had the same ratio, a 91 kg (200 lb) man would have testes that weighed nearly 13 kg (28 pounds)! ...
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1233 |
bio_man |
6 years ago |
Shivering bees
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Unlike most bees, which hibernate during colder months, honey bees remain active all winter long despite the freezing temperatures. A honey bee colony’s ability to survive the winter depends on their food stores of honey. Once the colony begins to run out of honey, the worker bees force the useless drones from the hive, to maintain the food store. As temperatures drop, the honey bee workers form a cluster around the queen and brood, keeping them warm. Bees on the inside of the cluster can feed on the stored honey. If surrounding temperatures rise, the bees on the outside of the group separate a bit, to allow more air flow. As temperatures fall, the cluster tightens, and the outer bees pull together. As it gets colder, the worker bees actively ...
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8419 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
These giant looking mosquitoes aren't really mosquitoes after all
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The crane fly is the world's most misunderstood insect that looks like a mosquito, but is actually a fly. Although it might look like the daddy longlegs of mosquitos, it is actually harmless and doesn't suck your blood. In fact, some sources suggest that this insect eats other bugs and mosquitoes larvae, acting as natural form of pest control.
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10660 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
One long snout
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The aardvark's outsize snout is tailor-made to house a foot-long, sticky tongue that's the perfect tool for extracting termites from their mound nests. Bush-meat hunters are fond of eating aardvarks, but the "antbear" ( Orycteropus afer) is still relatively common across sub-Saharan Africa.
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3102 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
A buttload of coachroaches
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A female Madagascar hissing cockroach giving birth from her butt. After the brood hatches from her body, she secretes nutritional goo to provide them their first meal. That's dedicated parenting.
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9926 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Incredible, these ants can build live bridges with their bodies
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Army ants ( Eciton hamatum, shown above) can form living bridges without any oversight from a "lead" ant and with a clear cost-benefit ratio. The ants will create a path up to the point when too many workers are being diverted from collecting food and prey. Bridges will be the length of 10 to 20 ants - only a few centimeters, but swarms form several bridges a day, which save collective energy and maximize foraging time. The ants exhibit a level of collective intelligence that could provide new insights into animal behavior. Watch the video found here: http://phys.org/news/2015-11-ants-bridges-bodies-video.html ...
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3360 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
Nature's scuba divers
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Some bugs, such as water scorpions, long-toed water beetle and predaceous diving beetles (shown below) use the molecular properties of water to create miniature scuba diving tanks and spacesuits. The cohesive forces between water molecules essentially makes water molecules "stick" together, allowing bubbles to form against a wall of tension. These little insects are small enough to take advantage of this, by trapping a bubble in their outer wings or tiny bristles on their shell. ...
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8063 |
duddy |
8 years ago |
This plant will solve all your termite problems
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The pitcher plant, much like the Venus flytrap, is a carnivorous plant that survives by digesting insects. It's sweet nectar entices insects to feed off it, though this may come at a cost as they risk falling into a deadly pool of acid at the bottom of the pitcher plant's bucket-shaped leaf.
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3095 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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1699 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Mosquitoes have preferences too
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According to a new study published in the journal PLOS One, it was found that identical twins are equally attractive to mosquitoes than fraternal - or non-identical - twins. This correlation lead researchers to conclude that mosquitoes might be making preferential choices based on differences in our DNA. What causes this preferences? While it may be nice to believe that that mosquitoes are attracted to "sweeter blood", it's not true at all. Female mosquitoes - the ones that bite, in order to get protein necessary for egg development - are actually drawn to us by chemical signals related to body odour. ...
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17887 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
These wannabe spiders use thorn-like weapons on their arms to attack small prey
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Belonging to the class Arachnida, Amblypygids, also known as whip spiders or tailless whip scorpions, form a separate order of arachnids alongside the spiders, scorpions, and others. The name "amblypygid" means "blunt rump", a reference to a lack of the flagellum ("tail"). They are harmless to humans, and possess no silk glands or venomous fangs. They rarely bite if threatened, but can grab fingers with pedipalps (thorn-like appendages), resulting in thorn-like puncture injury. ...
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22357 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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3492 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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1 |
13169 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Termite kings are puny
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The average termite queen will produce 30,000 eggs PER DAY. And considering these morbidly obese baby-making machines will often live till they're 20 years old, that means 219,000,000 eggs in single a lifetime.
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9934 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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1 |
8732 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
Beautiful blue bees
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These pretty little insects are blue-banded bees, native to Australia. They use a special technique called 'buzz pollination', which involves vibrating their bodies to shake particles of pollen free from flowers. Crops such as tomatoes, blueberries, eggplants and chillies rely on it.
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7657 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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1268 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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3939 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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2 |
6366 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Whiter than paper
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What's whiter than white? These Cyphochilus beetles from Southeast Asia. Their scales are whiter than paper, and no human technology can replicate their brilliance.
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5596 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Think your job is hard, compare it to this
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Twice a year, locals in central Nepal scale the Himalayan foothills to harvest honey produced by the world's largest honeybee ( Apis dorsata laboriosa). Single adult bees of this species can measure up to 3.0 cm (1.2 in) in length, and are highly adapted to its highland habitat. ...
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6452 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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3086 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Watch this mantis devour a fly
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Want to see something that's equal parts creepy and stunningly beautiful? Watch this juvenile glass mantis dismantle and devour a fly.
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1 |
5929 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Spider-man would be proud of this finding
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Researchers have uncovered the mechanism that allows spiders to build such strong webs. According to the study, both ends of the spider's silk grand have different pH levels, which helps these proteins become a solid fibre that can be spun into a solid web. The researchers also found that the pH level has different effects on the stability of the two regions at each end of the spidroin proteins. “While one of the ends tended to pair up with other molecules at the beginning of the duct (N-terminal) and became increasingly stable as the acidity increased along the duct, the other end (C-terminal) destabilised as the acidity increased, and gradually unfolded until it formed the structure characteristic of silk at the acidic pH of 5.5”, ex ...
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5219 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
World's stinkiest plant
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The three-metre-tall titan arum is one of the world’s stinkiest flowers. It smells like rotting flesh to attract flies and other insects which get stuck at the base and digested. It also only blooms for a few hours to a few days, so is often only seen in bloom in gardens rather than in the wild.
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5429 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
HIV is no match for bee venom
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In a breakthrough, scientists have found that nanoparticles carrying a toxin found in bee venom can destroy HIV while leaving surrounding cells unharmed.
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1 |
1985 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A road literally covered in spiders
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Arachnophobes - stay indoors. Heavy rain and flooded farmlands have caused millions of spiders to swarm over Jordan Valley Road in Hikurangi, New Zealand.
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3737 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Evolution is sneaky
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While this little guy may look like some sort of 'Hummingbee' it's actually a Bee Fly. They sneak their eggs into beehives, where their larvae can parasitize bee larvae and eat their food reserves!
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4773 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
These chips look good, right?
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These chips have been made out of cricket carcases. The first edible insect farm in the U.S. has opened in an attempt to create a more sustainable food source. And we should probably try to get over the yuck factor.
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1 |
4129 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
M&M flavoured honey?
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We couldn't make this stuff up if we tried: French beekeepers were shocked to find their bees had produced a supply of thick, blue honey. Turns out the bees had been feeding on the colourful shells of M&Ms - a Mars bar processing plant sat just 4 km away.
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2049 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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1 |
2433 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Professional leaf roller
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This leaf-rolling weevil has made the meticulously rolled nest it's standing on without silk or adhesives, simply by using cuts, crimps and creases.
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1616 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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2042 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
You are what you eat
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You are what you eat, especially if you happen to be an ant with a transparent abdomen, being fed a mixture of food colouring, sugar, and water by a curious scientist.
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2 |
3065 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A butterfly in the sea
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Bearded fireworms are the caterpillars of the sea. At home in parts of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, their bristles can pierce the skin of an unsuspecting swimmer and deliver a powerful venom that will burn for hours.
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2620 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A promising initiative for bees and hotel owners
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Luxury hotels in Sydney are now producing their own honey by setting up bee colonies on their rooftops. The Shangri-La already has five rooftop beehives that have produced 14 kilograms of honey since late last year for use in the hotel’s restaurants and kitchens. Considering the amount of honey used in these big hotels, this is a pretty promising initiative!
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2 |
2368 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Meet the parent bug
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This lady is quite an awesome mum. Most bugs lay their eggs and leave them, but the horned shield bug will guard the eggs zealously until they hatch and then stay with her little ones for several weeks, that’s why they are also known as the parent bug.
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5386 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Invasive cockroach reach home
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An invasive cockroach species has made it to New York. The roach is native to Japan, has an unusual resistance to cold weather and thrives on ice, but researchers still don’t know if it will spread to other American cities. This is the first time that this species of cockroach has been spotted in the US.
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12910 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Massive predatory worm
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The king ragworm is a skilled hunter found in the northern hemisphere. The worm, which can grow over 120 cm long, also uses chemical signals to judge the risk of predation in the area.
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5303 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Jumping spiders
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Meet the green jumping spider ( Mopsus mormon), Australia’s largest—and perhaps cutest—jumping arachnid. These spiders hunt in the day time, moving fast to attack their prey, and camouflaging against green leaves. If you see one, leave it alone. Although their bite won’t kill you, it’s extremely painful.
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5523 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Walking leaves
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This stunning creature is the Amazonian leaf-footed bug ( Diactor bilenatus), a species that can be found throughout South American, in parts of Central America and on some Caribbean Islands. Although they look beautiful, when threatened the insect releases a bitter, unpleasant odour to scare of potential predators.
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7464 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
A dancing spider
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Meet the peacock spider, it has the best dance moves you've ever seen.
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1 |
3922 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
The happiest spider alive
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This is the happy face spider, a spider in the family Theridiidae. Their "smile" keeps predators away.
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3297 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
This moth is a work of art
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This is the Giant Leopard Moth, a strictly nocturnal species native to parts of North America and Mexico. These moths start life as an incredibly black and bristly caterpillar, and once they grow into adulthood, they never eat, and instead focus on mating and passing their genes onto several clutches of eggs. ...
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3553 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Gold comes in many different forms
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The Golden Tortoise beetle is found in the Americas. They feed on the leaves of plants related to the sweet potato, including the morning glory and bindweed, though they rarely eat enough to cause serious damage to the plant.
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5304 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
The nastiest cheese on earth
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Casu marzu is a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese, notable for containing live insect larvae. It is found almost exclusively in Sardinia, Italy. Casu marzu is created by leaving whole Pecorino cheeses outside with part of the rind removed to allow the eggs of the cheese fly Piophila casei to be laid in the cheese. A female P. casei can lay more than five hundred eggs at one time. The eggs hatch and the larvae begin to eat through the cheese. The acid from the maggots' digestive system breaks down the cheese's fats, making the texture of the cheese very soft; by the time it is ready for consumption, a typical casu marzu will contain thousands of these maggots. ...
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4108 |
savio |
11 years ago |
What accounts for blue blood found in invertebrates
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Hemocyanins are proteins that transport oxygen throughout the bodies of some invertebrate animals. These metalloproteins contain two copper atoms that reversibly bind a single oxygen molecule (O 2). They are second only to hemoglobin in frequency of use as an oxygen transport molecule. Unlike the hemoglobin in red blood cells found in vertebrates, hemocyanins are not bound to blood cells but are instead suspended directly in the hemolymph. Oxygenation causes a color change between the colorless Cu(I) deoxygenated form and the blue Cu(II) oxygenated form. ...
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5286 |
bio_man |
11 years ago |
Here's why birds and ants get along so well
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Some birds, such as woodcreepers and cuckoos, are known to follow army ant raids on forest floors. As the army ant colony travels on the forest floor, they stir up various flying insect species. As the insects flee from the army ants, the birds following the ants catch the fleeing insects. In this way, the army ants and the birds are in a commensalistic relationship because the birds benefit while the army ants are unaffected. ...
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5081 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Commensalism
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Sloths have a commensal relationship with several insects. Their thick fur readily traps bacteria and algae, which makes a good home for many beetles. The beetles are able to lay their eggs in a place that is rich in nutrients upon hatching, and the sloths don’t care either way. One sloth was reported to have over 900 beetles living in its fur!
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4644 |
savio |
11 years ago |
Beetles the size of period
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The water beetle is about 1 mm in length and has been named Hydraena ateneo. Most of the discoveries made in the Philippines occur in their forests, making this discovery even more surprising.
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3589 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Would you like to try a gluten-free diet or a helminth?
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Parasitologist espouses using parasitic worms for treatment of autoimmune diseases – Dr. Joel Weinstock, at Tufts Medical Center in a commentary piece published in the journal Nature, describes work that he and colleagues have been involved in that focuses on studying the possibility of introducing parasitic worms into the guts of patients suffering from autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease. The thinking he says, is that modern hygienic lifestyles may be contributing to such diseases and that reintroducing parasitic worms and perhaps certain bacteria into the gut may restore a natural balance in the gut and relieve patients of such symptoms as chronic diarrhea, bleeding and infections. Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-p ...
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3518 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Giraffes come in various forms
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This is the giraffe weevil from Madagascar, which, as you might have guessed, gets its name from its long neck. Males use their extra long necks for fighting, while females use theirs to roll a leaf nest, into which an egg is laid during reproduction.
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0 |
2541 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
One giant hornet
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The Japanese giant hornet kills about 40 people each year, and being stung by one feels “like a hot nail” going through the flesh.
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1 |
2147 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
World's most dangerous spider
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Latrodectus mactans, or Southern black widow or simply black widow, is a highly venomous species of spider. They are well known for the distinctive black and red coloring of the female of the species and for the fact that she will occasionally eat her mate after reproduction (hence the name – Black widow). The species is native to North America. The venom might be fatal to humans. Although these spiders are not especially large, their venom is extremely potent. They are capable to inject the venom to a point where it can be harmful. The males, being much smaller, inject far less venom. The actual amount injected, even by a mature female, is very small in physical volume. When this small amount of venom is diffused throughout the body of a he ...
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1 |
2443 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
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2482 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Gruesome bloodsuckers
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Assassin bugs use a mouth tube to inject toxin into their prey. This toxin acts as an anaesthetic and also liquifies tissues, the easier to suck you dry with. There are thousands of assassin bug species; some eat only other insects and some attack reptiles, birds, and mammals. This assassin bug is turning the tables on a vampire bat. Notice how you can see the blood entering the young insect.
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2735 |
bio_man |
11 years ago |
A monster of an ant
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The bullet ant, or Paraponera clavata, lives throughout Central and South America. What makes this ant a formidable insect are its large mandibles and stinger. The bullet ant is one of the largest ants, growing to a length of just under 1 inch. Most notable about the ant is its ability to produce an excruciating sting.
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3354 |
bio_man |
11 years ago |
Here's why I hate centipedes
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The Amazonian giant centipede is the largest centipede alive, reaching lengths of 30 centimeters. They are carnivorous and feed on lizards, snakes, mice, and even bats. While their venom is not enough to kill an adult human, it may cause reactions with the skin.
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5027 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Self-sacrificing honeypot ants
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More than thirty species of ant have a caste known as 'honeypot ants'. These essentially act as living pantries for other ants in the colony. They consume large quantities of food until the abdomen is incredibly engorged. When worker ants lack other food sources, honeypot ants simply regurgitate out nutrients for them to eat. In some parts of the world, eating honeypot ants is viewed as a sweet delicacy.
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4647 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Don't like centipedes? They may be beneficial
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If you have a house centipede crawling around on your floors, you’re in luck! These little guys feed on pests such as termites, cockroaches, spiders, and ants to keep your home’s biodiversity to a minimum. Adult centipedes have 15 pairs of legs that help it achieve top speeds of 0.4 meters per second. To mate, centipedes become acquainted through the touching of antennae, and the male deposits sperm onto the ground, which the female then uses to fertilize her eggs.
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4262 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Ants: Crashing picnics for 158 million years
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There are over 12,000 species of ants in the world, and a new tree of life has been published to better understand how they are all related. Their evolutionary origins have been traced to the tropics in South America, where they play a critical role in maintaining the health of the ecosystem.
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3361 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Ant careers
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It turns out that ants are capable of making career moves.Computer tracking of ants shows that colonies have three main occupations: nursing the queen, cleaning, and foraging for food. Younger ants typically stay near the queen, but as they get older, they make the transition to foraging. This transition with regards to age was an exciting discovery, giving more insight into ant behavior. Source: http://www.nature.com/news/tracking-whole-colonies-shows-ants-make-career-moves-1.12833 ...
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3688 |
ehd123 |
11 years ago |
Termites are nature's architects
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Termites are pretty astonishing creatures by anyone's standards -- their queens are thirty times the size of soldiers and they produce an amazing thirty eggs per minute. Relative to their size, termites build the largest structures in the animal kingdom. Their towers can reach an incredible 25ft (7.6m) high and 40ft across (12.1m) - and that's just above the ground! They can burrow as far as 225ft (68m) below the surface.
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4286 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Sunda pangolins
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Sunda pangolins have become the most frequently seized mammal in the illegal wildlife trade in Asia, as smugglers sell the creatures to meet culinary and medicinal demand. These gentle insectivores are now on the endangered species list.
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1 |
6536 |
bio_man |
11 years ago |