Strange Creatures

Naked Mole Rat

Try to guess what this is.....yes.....it's a rabbit.

Chinese Giant Salamander: Their eyes aren't very well developed so they have sensory nodes along their body that help them find their way around.

Most Poisonous Jellyfishes

1. The Box Jellyfish
Location: Australia
 The box jellyfish contains toxins that attack the skin cells, nervous system, and heart. Human victims often go into shock and either drown or die of heart failure before they reach the shore. Survivors of a box jellyfish sting experience pain for weeks and have scarring.

2. Irukandji
Location: Australia
This jellyfish is only 2.5 centimeters in length, making it very difficult to spot in the ocean. It has stingers not only on its tentacles, but also on its bell. Although this jellyfish is very deadly to humans and other organisms, it is also very fragile. If kept in an aquarium, hitting the side of the tank will be too hard and the impact will kill it.

3. The Lion's Mane/Deep Spiderfish
Location: Northern Hemisphere
This species of jellyfish can become very large. One found in Massachuesetts Bay in 1870 was over 7 feet in diameter and had tentacles longer than 120 feet in length. The farther south you go, the smaller this jellyfish becomes. The bigger Lion's Mane jellyfish are deep red in color. As they get smaller, the color fades to a light orange. Each jellyfish can  have anywhere from 480 to 1040 tentacles along with their oral arms.

4. The Moon Jellyfish
Location: Most Oceans
The Moon Jellyfish is on average, 25-40 cm across. Instead of being colorful like other jellyfish, it's translucent. The Moon Jellyfish has many predators and humans in Southeast Asia often like to eat them.

5. Sea Nettle
Location: East and West coast of North America
The sea nettle is semi-translucent and sometimes lacks its reddish-brown strips and small white spots. On average, it grows to be 6-8 inches with four tentacles. In small creatures, its venom often causes death. In larger creatures, the creature is often temporarily paralyzed. This allows the jellyfish time to get away from its predator. In humans, the sting is often moderate or severe and lasts 20 to 30 minutes.

Shark Finning

Have you ever thought about how it would feel if you were to get your arm or leg cut off and left, making you unable to move? Probably not. That kind of action isn't something you'd expect, and it would definitely not be legal. So why is it legal to do it to sharks? I'm talking about shark finning. For those of you who aren't quite sure what shark finning is, it's the act of cutting off the fins of a shark, often still alive, for the purpose of making soup. China and New Zealand are two examples of places known for making shark fin soup. Not only do people cut off the fins of live sharks, but they also throw these immobile sharks back into the ocean to die. The video above provides an example of what shark finning is like. The young tiger shark was secretly videotaped while being tortured to death. Literally.

Each year 72,000,000 sharks are killed. That's millions. However, sharks are not the only animal affected by the actions of these cruel people. Each year, thousands of sea turtles and whales are also killed due to the traps set to capture the sharks. Is shark fin soup really that delicious? Is it really worth killing millions of marine animals a year, just for a few minutes of pleasure while eating the soup? Here's something to think about. Elephant tusking is illegal, but at least the elephants are killed first. They don't have to suffer while painfully dying. What makes a shark less important than an elephant? As you can tell, I am very against shark finning. Most people would be. What do you think is going through a person's mind as they cut off each fin of a shark? What are your thoughts on shark finning? Should it, like elephant tusking, also be illegal?

The Lion Whisperer

Yes. Those are real lions. I came across this picture a couple months ago. After seeing it, I did some research to find out who the crazy man was! My first thought was "How did he not get attacked and killed by these wild animals?!" The man in the picture is Kevin Richardson, known as "The Lion Whisperer." These pictures were taken in October of last yeart in Broederstroom, South Africa, where more than 1,000 lions are legally killed a year. Of course I don't think it's right to kill an animal like this when it hasn't done anything to harm the person. As you can see, lions aren't always dangerous. Yes, there are major risks with what Kevin does that can lead to severe consequences. That is part of the reason I find this particular guy so intriguing. One particular picture that surprised me was the picture below:

No harm was done while taking this picture. It was a very playful pose. It's not everyday you see an animal this powerful doing something so domestic-like. I'm not going to ramble on forever about this guy. I just admire him for the courage he has. There's a point to what he's doing. His goal is to stop the killing of lions in South Africa, and this sure is an intriguing way to get the message out there! If you'd like to learn more about Kevin, you can visit his website. I'll leave you with one last picture. This just goes to show that when it comes down to these animals vs. us, there's no way we would win.

Welcome!

As you can see, my blog is going to be about wildlife. Big and small, I love it all. To be honest, I'm not exactly sure where my interest in animals came from. When I was growing up, I had cats and dogs, but almost everyone does. I wasn't influenced by my parents to like the things I do. I just do. I've always had a fascination with animals. Especially wild animals. I even wanted to be a vet when I was younger. When I started thinking about topics, the only thing that came to mind was my love for animals. Being a biology education major really reflects this interest of mine.

Over the next few months, and maybe even longer if I decide to keep going, I'll be talking about environmental issues that affect wildlife, major developments about a specific animal, or even just giving my opinion about an article here and there. I'm really excited about this blog. I've had a few blogs before and I think it's a great way to put everything going through your head into words.

I hope you enjoy this blog and get something out of it in the end. I'll try to do my best to post ever couple of days, however in the past I've had difficulties with that. So here's to hoping I can keep up!