Tag: animals

Crocodiles Can Surf Ocean Currents

Great. first it was giant flying sharks, now it’s giant surfing crocodiles. What’s next: hyenas on motorcycles?

“Saltwater crocodiles enjoy catching a wave and can travel hundreds of kilometres by ‘surfing’ on ocean currents, a study suggests. […]

During the research, a team led by Dr Hamish Campbell, from the University of Queensland, captured 20 crocodiles living in the North Kennedy tidal river in Queensland, northern Australia, and tagged them with satellite transmitters.

They found that during the period of study, eight of them ventured out into the open ocean. One travelled from the river mouth all the way to the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula, in Queensland’s far north. That amounts to a total of 590km covered over 25 days.”

Not only that—they actually wait until the tide goes out so they can take advantage of the currents:

Sergeant Gander, the Newfoundland

Reader Tasha McGee has kindly sent along a story related to one we did in our brand new Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Plunges Into Canda, Eh, and also related to her own family history:

I was just reading “Plunges Into Canada” (love it, but the way), and I came accross the story about Gander the dog. Well, I was in Ottawa in August ’09 for the Hong Kong Veterans Memorial Wall unveiling (my grandpa was a P.O.W) and there was a bunch of… memorabilia, I guess you’d call it, about the war time. I took the following pictures that I thought I would share.

Really appreciate it, Tasha, must have been quite a trip. Here’s that photo of Sergeant Gander:

That is one good looking dog. And from Plunges Into Canada (page 37)—here’s the truly amazing story of Sergeant Gander:

Kangaroos in the Noos

News, we meant news. Anyhoo:

• “What is a kangaroo doing in the middle of the road in Bemidji, Minnesota in November?” Luke Havumaki said. (Uncle John said, “In November?”)

• Solving the mysteries of the elusive tree kangaroo. (With video.)

• A motorcycle rider was injured when he ran into a kanagroo. In Texas. (Texas, Asutralia.)

• Hankering for a new flavor potato chip? How about BBQ Kangaroo?

• The hunt for a phantom kangaroo…in Japan.

• Kangaroo v. dingo.

• Horny kangaroos!

• Shark attacks kangaroo. (Whu-huh?)

• And, finally, more ocean-going kangaroos, with less shark.

Suicide-Committing Grasshoppers

Just found this on the intertubes. It’s a fascinating (and creepy) YouTube video about nematomorpha, parasitic creatures more commonly called “hairworms.” We wrote a short piece about them in Uncle John’s Triumphant 20th Bathroom Reader (2007, p. 172). An excerpt:

Tests on grasshoppers that had contracted hairworms by drinking water containing hairworm larvae revealed that the lavrae feed off grasshoppers’ insides and grow until one takes up most of its body cavity. When that worm is ready to reproduce, it secretes a protein concoction that affects the grasshopper’s central nervous system, mimicking messages to its brain. The messages drive the grasshopper to water, where it doesn’t stop for a drink…it jumps in and drowns. It is effectively induced to commit suicide. The worm, which by this time can be three times the length of the grasshopper, then crawls out of the carcass and swims off to find a mate.

Yum!

Here’s the video:

Related Extra: A fungus that brainwashes ants into sacrificing themselves…for the fungus.

And this just in: Yay toads!

  1. Pages:
  3. 1
  4. 2