Beautiful Examples of Bird Photography

 

more photography after the break...

The Astonishing Eggs of Alien Nations

  

The eyes have it! Perhaps this is a way of warding off possible predators. A hundred eyes glaring at you might put would-be predators of a nervous disposition off their lunch altogether.More Astonishing Eggs after the break...

 

 

Where is John Hurt when you need him? If he could perhaps just lean over these eggs he might get a nasty surprise but we would perhaps have a chance of identifying these eggs. Although the species is unknown this is a good starting point on our journey through insect eggs. At once a little scary but fascinating, it is difficult to believe that these will hatch in to something probably harmless to us. Fortunately, the eggs measure millimeters rather than meters so don’t have nightmares!




The Lacewing is a clever creature. It doesn’t want the eggs it has spent time and a great deal of energy producing snaffled up by the first hungry bug that wanders by in search of a meal. So, the female extends a slither if silk and deposits the egg at the end. In this way the eggs can be kept out of the way of casual predators in search of a free meal. Come to think of it though, isn’t every meal in the bug world free?

Again an unknown species but the eggs look so much like tiny rolls of sushi that to not include this would have been a crime. The eggs do seem very exposed, however. It is a wonder that they haven’t been eaten yet!


The Australian mosquito Culex quinquefasciatus oviposits on still water. Although most of the insects featured here are harmless, this one most certainly isn’t. This species can carry Murray Valley Encephalitis. It is also a vector of dog heartworm and is thought to be involved in the transmission of myxomatosis in some areas. Ew.


Staying in Australia for a while, these empty Shield Bug eggs give a good idea how much the young must grown in order to reach maturity. Once hatched, the Shield bug will stick around the same leaf until it leaves as a fully grown adult. Some kids just can’t fly the nest!


The eggs of the Vapourer moth are joined by a Harlequin Ladybird. It is thought that Harlequins will eat insect eggs, so perhaps that is just what this one is doing. It could, however, just be passing by on its way to a certain Ball.


More unidentified eggs, but at least the parent had the good taste to lay them on something as exquisite as a peacock feather. Quite what the young are expected to eat once they hatch (unless it is the egg shell) is anyone’s guess. No doubt they have to make their way to a slightly more “des res” but one not quite so aesthetically pleasing.


Sometimes, though, camouflage is the best form of defense. These eggs go so well with the plant on which they have been laid that it would be difficult to spot them from much of a distance.


An egg of the Cabbage White butterfly. Many find beauty in simplicity but for many the Cabbage White is the plainest of the plain in the butterfly world. However, the structure of its egg is nothing short of remarkable. It looks like some tiny eco-friendly skyscraper that should be inhabited by hundred of tiny members of Greenpeace.


Take two, four times a day before eating. These eggs have a sheen and shape on them which is reminiscent of something a doctor might prescribe you. The gorgeous color gives the eggs a slightly unreal look, almost as if they have been industrially manufactured.


Most people know the mantis – it is one of the most popular insects on the planet because of its alien appearance. The female has the reputation of devouring her mate after procreation, which only adds to the attraction. What is not known about the mantis, however, is that the female oviposits in to an egg sack. The sack forms an extra layer of protection for the shells and most certainly looks like something Sigourney Weaver and co might get stuck in while awaiting their fate.


A Papaya Fruit fly ovipositing on a fruit. If you look closely you can just about make out the milky white eggs. Again, if this was anything bigger than a centimeter in length, this would be a truly alarming animal. However, its tiny size is, to us, a massive relief!


Another unidentified species, but it puts a whole new meaning in to the phrase “a bun in the oven”. These eggs look uncannily like a tray of muffins, just out of the oven and cooling down before being put in to the baker’s shop window.


 Here are the eggs of the Spined Soldier Bug Eggs. With the spines around the eggs and their metallic gleam, these look as if they are just about to explode! There is a good reason for the spines, however. They are to deter other insects from taking a bite. After the eggs are laid they stiffen and make them difficult to eat.


Stink Bug eggs are green. Very green. They are like something that can be found in candy packets the world over. If there are “E” numbers in any eggs at all, it would be these. With a slightly retro seventies feel to them, these glow in the dark beauties might well have looked at home around the neck of a model tripping the light fantastic at Studio 54.


These eggs, of the Hibiscus Harlequin bug, look almost like grapes ripening, without a vine. One or two of them have already hatched or been eaten by predators but there is a wonderful beauty to them which is quite lovely.


A raft of mosquito eggs with the developing young inside. There is a small dot of “sap” on the top of each one which is in fact a pheromone. This picture was taken by lifting the eggs gently out of the barrel in which they were found and depositing them in a shallow dish of water. They look like tiny ink cartridges, lining up to be inserted in to a hundred fountain pens.


The egg of the Hoverfly really does look like something out of a science fiction film. The silver grey coloring gives it an out of world feel that is utterly alien. Fortunately, the egg is only a few millimeters in length!


The eggs of the harlequin bug are black and white and not the first mini sushi to be seen in this collection. The adult is multi-colored -like a splash of gasoline in a puddle so it is a little odd that the eggs should be so monochrome. There is a strange unearthly beauty to these eggs, however.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11 Amazing Animals That Improve Your Health

The words “drug development” may conjure images of white-coated scientists, working at benches with pipettes and petri dishes.

But the real experiments have been occurring in nature for millennia, where life on land and sea has developed distinct chemical methods of survival — from capturing their prey to identifying disease-causing microbes.

Thus far, humans have tapped a small but successful portion of the resulting cornucopia of compounds with the potential to cure disease.

The following is a list of animals that have contributed to medicine.

 “Start by thinking like a snake or a spider. Why would a snake want venom in the first place?” More about animals after the break…

 

 

 
 

Frog Skin Antibiotics
Sir Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin in 1929, a happy accident, marked a new era of medicine in which antibacterial drugs offered new protection against many formerly fatal infections, including pneumonia, scarlet fever and venereal disease. But for the rest of the animal kingdom, this was nothing new.
“Every animal, from the simplest hydra to man, makes antimicrobial peptides,” said Dr. Michael Zasloff, a professor of surgery at the Transplant Institute at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. “They serve to protect us and to live in harmony with bacteria.”
Zasloff knows animals can protect themselves with antimicrobials because of a happy accident of his own. While conducting research using frog eggs at the National Institutes of Health in the 1980s, Zasloff noticed that the sutures on the female frog abdomens, following ovary removal, healed without becoming infected, even in their non-sterile tanks.
“In their skin, these animals stored high concentrations of powerful antibiotics of a particular type — antimicrobial peptides,” Zasloff said.
These compounds, evolved since the beginning of life on Earth, can be far more effective than conventional antibacterial medications because they recognize microbe membranes rather than microbial proteins and enzymes. Altering the membrane to develop resistance is far more difficult for bacteria and fungi than altering a protein.
Cases where this system fails and the body overreacts to microbes results in illnesses like Crohn’s disease or cystic fibrosis.
Based on the antimicrobial proteins he found in frog skin, Zasloff completed a large phase three clinical trial on diabetic patients who get diabetic ulcers on their feet to see if a topical antimicrobial ointment would be effective against those infections. The trial was successful but the FDA requested another study on the ointment in the absence of other drug use by the study subjects. Zasloff put further experiments on hold but said a private company has taken charge of further experiments.
“But this is the most advanced of the drugs,” Zasloff said. “It is one of those drugs that is moving forward.”



Leeches
You can find them in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics — Napoleon Bonaparte once decreed that all hospitals could not be without them and they even helped save limbs during the Vietnam War
This ancient medic of the animal world has been used by man for thousands of years; it also happens to be a slimy bloodsucker that can eat ten times its own body weight in blood.
Today, medicinal leeches are used after severe trauma to help reattach digits, close wounds and help mend skin after plastic surgery.
There are approximately 650 species of these fresh water worms but only one, Hirudo Medicinalis, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for medical use.
The approved leeches are the perfect size — unlike Amazon leeches which would take more than their fair share of blood. It has just the right biting mechanism: three jaws with hundreds of sharp teeth that feed on the surface of the skin. They also secrete anti-coagulants which helps keep the blood flowing.
And it’s this combination of adaptations that makes them perfect for saving limbs and skin.
“If you have a thumb that is reattached, the doctors will repair the arteries, tendons and muscles but the little veins that carry blood back to the circulatory system are damaged and traumatized,” explained Rudy Rosenberg Sr. of Leeches USA Ltd., a medical leech distributor. “The blood pools in the reattached thumb and has nowhere to go, so you put the leech on the limb to suck out the extra blood until the veins redevelop.”


Brazilian Arrowhead Viper
Venom from the Brazilian arrowhead viper, also called a Brazilian pit viper, was the basis for developing one of the first ACE inhibitors, a group of drugs used to treat hypertension and congestive heart failure.
Researchers isolated a molecule called bradykinin potentiating factor from the viper venom and found it is related to a class of molecules that stop angiotensis-converting enzymes (ACE) from blocking bradykinins, a protein that causes blood vessels to dilate and lower blood pressure.
Boyer pointed out that an animal such as a snake needs their prey to be still. Decreasing blood pressure could be a useful property for snake venom, since snakes require that their prey be still while they eat and digest them.
Bradykinin potentiating factors were eventually developed into the drug captopril, used to treat hypertension, cardiac conditions and to preserve kidney function in diabetics, and launched in 1975 by the pharmaceutical company Squibb, now part of Bristol-Myers Squibb, to great success.


Gila Monster
The colorful Gila monster (pronounced HEE-la) is a scaly loner that lives in the deserts of the Southwest United States and northern Mexico. It scavenges for small eggs and small animals, spends most of its time underground, and is one of two species of lizards on Earth that produce venom.
It’s this venom that makes the Gila monster a medical wonder as well as a natural curiosity.
“In the case of the Gila monster, they are cold blooded animals that in the winter hold very still,” Boyer said. “To save energy, tissues like its gut, glands, pancreas, all stop being juicy and active. When the critter wakes up in spring, its venom liberates hormones into body that stimulate its organs to become robust again and ready to receive a meal. “
Dr. John Eng, an endocrinologist at Solomon A. Berson Research Laboratory, discovered this hormone in 1992 which he named exendin-4. The venom hormone was very similar to a hormone produced in the human digestive tract which is responsible for increasing the production of insulin when blood sugar is high. He also found that exendin-4 remained effective in the body longer than the human hormone.
The Gila monster’s adaptive tricks now help thousands of diabetes sufferers.
In 2005 the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug Byetta, derived from Gila monster venom. The injectible medicine is effective at helping people with Type 2 diabetes maintain healthy glucose levels. The drug also slowed the emptying of the stomach, decreasing appetite and helping patients to lose weight.


Maggots
When all other treatments fail and patients face losing life and limb — literally — these creepy crawlers are called in to do the job that doctors and modern medicine sometimes cannot.
Maggots are small, voracious eaters that love to feast on diseased and dying flesh. But their nauseating idea of a great meal is a life-saving asset for those suffering from chronic wounds and infections.
“I call them micro-surgeons,” said Dr. Edgar Maeyens Jr., dermatological surgeon who practices in Oregon. “Those little guys can debride [clean] a wound better than any guy with a knife.”
Maggots used to be standard treatment for wounds in the early 20th century, but with the discovery of antibiotics they fell out of common use. But maggots seem to be making a comeback as bacteria mutates and becomes resistant to antibiotics; more doctors are turning to maggots as a last resort before amputation.
“Maggots will turn a chronic wound into an acute wound in a matter of days by eating the chronic tissue and bacteria. From there the wound becomes treatable and can finally heal,” Maeyens said.
These hungry insect larvae are sterile, work quickly and also cost less than traditional treatments.
“For just a few dollars and in just a few days you can do what months of treatment and tens of thousands of dollars could not,” Maeyens said.

Goat-Made Spider Silk
We’ve all heard of Spider-Man — but how about a spider-goat?
These transgenetic goats are very unique because they produce something out of the ordinary: spider silk. The same substance that makes up spider webs is created in their milk glands.
Spider silk is referred to by many scientists as bio-steel. Much like in the Spider-Man movies, spider silk has super tensile strength. If made in large quantities and threaded together researchers say it would be strong enough to produce bullet proof vests, parachute cords or to tether airplanes to aircraft carriers.
Spider silk can also be used to make artificial ligaments and tendons that support tissue, bone and nerve cells, holding them steady while they grow. These artificial silk parts then fall apart gradually, after the cells have been given enough time to grow.
But why goats? Spiders, unlike silk worms, tend to eat each other when placed together in large numbers. So scientists came up with a solution.
“The process is conceptually very simple. The spider silk gene for the silk protein is connected to DNA from the goat that controls in what tissue the protein is made. In this case it is the mammary gland and is made only during lactation,” said Randy Lewis, a molecular biologist at the University of Wyoming who helped engineer the goats. “That cell is then combined with an egg to ultimately produce an embryo that has the gene incorporated into its DNA. The silk protein is then made when the female starts lactating.”

Cone Snail
Don’t be fooled by the gracefully swirled and mottled shell or their sedentary nature. Cone snails are one of nature’s most dangerous creatures and their toxic venom can be fatal to humans. But in the right doses, some of those compounds can be useful.
“We started working on cone snails, to be honest, because we had nothing else to do at the time,” said Olivera. He had taken a position at a university in the Philippines in the 1970s and his lab was ill-equipped to handle any but the most basic scientific experiments. “I collected shells as a hobby as a kid and I knew certain types of cone snails killed people … Our goal was to purify components of the venom that might be responsible for it’s lethality.”
A fish-eating mollusk, the cone snail uses a harpoon sting to deliver its venom and kill nearby prey.
“Cone snails don’t have a lot going for them mechanically as far as catching their prey,” Olivera said. “They probably use their venom for more purposes than most other animals.”
Olivera cited defense against predators and competitive interaction amongst other cone snails as possible uses of the venom, which contains about 150-200 different compounds and these can be unique between cone snail species. The diversity of compounds offers researchers a pharmacological library of compounds to work with.
In 2004, the FDA approved the use of the pain medication ziconotide, marketed as Prialt, derived from one of the conopeptide proteins from cone snail venom. Other potential uses for compounds from the snail venom include drugs for neurological pain, epilepsy, heart disease and stroke.


Caribbean Sea Sponge and Coral
They may seem almost mundane; a simple sea sponge and coral on the bottom of the ocean floor.
You would never guess that something like this Caribbean Sea life might lead to the development of amazing future treatments for some of man’s biggest medical challenges, including cancer and antibiotic resistant infections. But that is exactly what researchers hope for.
While coral reefs and other underwater life were dying around it, the some species of Caribbean sea sponges and coral continued to thrive. Upon closer examination, researchers found that a naturally produced antibiotic was helping them to survive. This antibiotic strips bacteria of their protective bio-films, making them easier to kill. Scientists estimate that 65 to 80 percent of all bacterial infections are bio-film based.
But the discoveries don’t stop there.
A chemical called candidaspongiolide (CAN), which inhibits protein synthesis, can kill some cancer cells. The findings were published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
“Our basic understanding of the relationship between animals and the chemical they produce has come a long way,” Boyer said.
Researchers say there is much more research, tests and trials to complete but they hope it won’t be long before it leads to effective new treatments in the future.

Coho Salmon
Maybe you think salmon belongs on a dinner plate, but you can find it at the pharmacy, too.
Calcitonin-salmon is the generic name for a class of drugs, which include Miacalcin and Fortical, used to treat bone loss.
Humans make calcitonin, a hormone that inhibits bone loss, in the thyroid gland. But in postmenopausal women and people with Paget’s disease, the rate of bone loss increases. Extra calcitonin can prevent such bone loss and promote bone density.
“It’s about getting clues from animals to help with human health,” Boyer said.
Although fish have no thyroid glands, they do produce calcitonin hormones to regulate their own calcium levels from an endocrine gland in their neck. The synthetic version of this calcitonin from the coho salmon, the calcitonin-salmon, makes it into the final medical product for people with calcium regulation disorders.

Pygmy Rattlesnake
The southeastern pygmy rattlesnake, found in the United States from North Carolina to Florida and west through Texas, is too small to pack a dangerous bite, but the venom has some startling properties.
A molecule in the venom leaves prey bleeding profusely, their blood unable to clot. This could speed death for the prey of these small snakes.
“Naturally occurring substances that can genuinely do harm, at different doses, maybe could be drugs,” Boyer said.
This molecule from the rattlesnake venom was developed into eptifibatide, an antiplatelet drug that binds to platelets in the blood for a short time and prevents them from sticking together, or aggregating.
Eptifibatide is used to treat people with advanced heart disease, particularly those at risk for sudden heart attack. The drug prevents blood clots, which can block arteries and cause heart attack and stroke, from forming.

Horseshoe Crab
Every person in the world today who receives vaccines, antibiotics, or implanted medical devices such as pacemakers, has had their safety ensured by the blue blood of the horseshoe crab.
Unchanged for more than 200 million years, the crab’s blood gets its blue color from copper in its system and its special properties that make the blood invaluable to modern medicine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Species Found in Remote Asian Sea?

 

 New Species More after the break...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 12 Loudest Animals That Can Make You Deaf

  

Northern Elephant Seal

The male makes loud sound to interest the female and chase other males.
The sound can be heard from miles away.More after the break...

 

 

Grey Wolf

They can make very loud howling at night.
Their howling can be heard from 10 miles away.


North American Bullfrog
They are the loudest amphibian, the male makes mating call for the female.
The mating call can be heard from 0,5 miles away.


Australian’s Bladder Cicada
They are the loudest insect, the male sings loud mating call for the female.
The song can reach 120 dB, 100 times louder than music discotheque.
The song can be heard from 1,5 miles away.


Kakapo
They are the loudest bird, the male makes mating call for the female.
The mating call can be heard from 4,5 miles away.


Bulldog Bat
They can make very loud sound while trying to find way home at night.
Their sound can reach 137 dB, over 100 times louder than rock concert.


 Lion
The male can roar very load to chase other males to show domination.
The loudest roaring recorded can be heard from 5 miles away.


Spotted Hyena
They will make giggle sound if threatened or attacked by predators.
The giggle can be heard from 8 miles away.


Elephant
They can make loud trumpet-like sound to call each other.
The sound can be heard from 5 miles away, the loudest record can be heard from 20 miles away.

Howler Monkey
They are the loudest land animal.
The male can make very loud roaring and the female can make high itch whopping.
Their sound can be heard clearly 10 miles away, even through dense rain forest.


Blue Whale
They can make extremely loud whistle sound to call each other.
Their whistle can reach 188 dB, louder than jet engine and granade explosion.
Their whistle can be heard through the sea and over 500 miles away.
Blue Whale used to be loudest animal, until researchers found and animal loudest than Blue Whale…Maybe you wont believe it!


Tiger Pistol Shrimp
They beat Blue Whale as the loudest water animal as well the loudest living animals.
They can make extremely loud sound that can reach over 200 dB and louder than the mountain eruption.
Fortunately they live under the deep sea…you know why? Because human can only hear as loud as 120-130 dB, louder than that, well get extremely pain on ears and deaf.