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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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9899 |
duddy |
8 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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2 |
4960 |
duddy |
10 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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2 |
3546 |
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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4063 |
savio |
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 |
2343 |
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 |
3036 |
duddy |
9 years ago |
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2 |
6324 |
duddy |
9 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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3056 |
duddy |
8 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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6497 |
bio_man |
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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4195 |
duddy |
10 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 |
2383 |
duddy |
10 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 |
2069 |
duddy |
10 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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5243 |
bio_man |
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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5279 |
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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3887 |
duddy |
10 years ago |