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Posted on September 18, 2009
One amphibian has evolved a bizarre and gruesome defence mechanism to protect itself against predators.
When attacked, the Spanish ribbed newt pushes out its ribs until they pierce through its body, exposing a row of bones that act like poisonous barbs.
The newt has to force its bones through its skin every time it is attacked, say scientists, who have described the form and function of the barbs in detail.
Yet this bizarre behaviour appears not to cause the newt any ill effects.
The ability of the Spanish ribbed newt to expose its rib bones was first noticed by a natural historian in 1879.
But scientists have now used modern photographic and X-ray imaging techniques to reveal just how the animal does it.
The ribs have burst through the skin, ready to sting any attacker
And what they discovered is even more gruesome than they imagined.
When the newt becomes agitated or perceives a threat, it swings its ribs forward, increasing their angle to the spine by up to 50 degrees.
As it does this, the newt keeps the rest of its body still.
The forward movement of the ribs increases the body size and stretches the skin to the point of piercing it," says zoologist Egon Heiss of the University of Vienna in Austria.
The tips of the newt's ribs then stick outside its body, like exposed spines.
Arrows point to a poisonous secretion which coats the tips of protruding ribs
But there is more to the newt's defence, Heiss and his Vienna-based colleagues report in the Journal of Zoology.
"When teased or attacked by a predator, [the newt] secretes a poisonous milky substance on to the body surface. The combination of the poisonous secretion and the ribs as 'stinging' tools is highly effective," says Heiss.
The impact on any predator can be striking, particularly if they try to bite the newt or pick it up using their mouth.
Then the poison is almost injected into the thin skin within the mouth, causing severe pain or possibly death to the attacker.
A computer tomograph shows the sharp rib points and vertebral column
As well as elucidating the spear-like shape of the ribs, and exactly how the ribs swing forward and protrude, the scientists have demonstrated that the bones must break through the newt's body wall every time the amphibian evokes the defence response.
Initially, it was thought that the ribs might passively emerge through pores, rather than be actively driven through the body wall.
Surprisingly, the newt, which is related to other newts and salamanders, appears to suffer no major ill effects, despite repeatedly puncturing its own body and exposing its rib bones.
Impossible2Possible
Five young people, selected from applicants all across North America, will embark on the adventure of a lifetime - hiking, eating, and sleeping amongst sweeping glaciers, polar ice and jagged granite mountains in the heart of Canada's Arctic, pushing themselves to their physical and mental limits, as Youth Ambassadors in the impossible2Possible (i2P) Baffin Island trek. Led by i2P founder Ray Zahab and i2P Educational Coordinator Dr. Ewan Affleck , along with a team of elite adventurers, the i2P Youth Ambassadors will set out September 1st on a expedition across the Akshayuk Pass on Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada.
Expedition blog : Impossible2Possible
19 Aug 2009 - Reuters
SANTA BARBARA, California (Reuters) - Some 30,000 marijuana plants were seized from a pot farm run for a Mexican drug cartel in a remote corner of a national forest charred by an 88,000-acre (35,600hectare) wildfire,
California officials said on Tuesday.
Authorities have said the blaze was sparked August 8 by a cooking fire lit by marijuana growers camped out in the mountains of Los Padres National Forest, about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
The suspects, believed to number between two and six, fled the immediate area and remain at large, officials said. Investigators discovered the site days later while seeking the origin of the fire.
The marijuana was linked to Mexican drug traffickers in part because of the size and sophistication of the cultivation, Santa Barbara County sheriff's officials said.
"There's other evidence there that suggests that as well, and some of this is evidence we just can't talk about," sheriff's spokesman Drew Sugars told Reuters.
A crop of 30,000 cannabis plants, some 6 feet tall, were found growing on the side of a mountain, where the pot farmers had diverted a nearby stream to provide irrigation, Sugars said. Most of the plants survived the fire, he said.
Also found at the site were stacks of propane tanks, irrigation tubing, empty containers of fertilizer, a charred cooking stove, mounds of trash and a semiautomatic rifle.
Authorities said 2009 has so far been a banner year for pot eradication by the Forest Service and the sheriff's department in Santa Barbara County, where more than 250,000 plants with a street value of about $675 million have been seized. In late July, authorities ripped up 113,000 plants near the area where the latest fire began, Sugars said.
Editing by Chris Wilson
More on marijuana : The Weedman Cometh
01 September : Impossible2Possible!
Some 30,000 pot plants seized near California fire
forest fire
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- Swine flu: 10 things you need to know.I thought we agreed to call it"H1N1"?
- ◦Polish Yeti caught spying on bikini-clad student.A yeti with a sexual appetite? Weird !!!!
- Conn. man advertises parents on Craigslist.Matthew 19:19!
- Hoarding energy-guzzling bulbs ahead of EU ban." Global Hoarding?"
- Fla. officials: Hundreds of animals found in filth.Just insane!
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- Dutch museum says 'moon rock' worthless wood Made by the man in the moon?
- Utahns can now practice DUI jail call . Practice makes perfect?
- Brazen Fla. burglar grabs TV in double-steal. Wanted to watch the game?
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- The Coin Flip: A Fundamentally Unfair Proposition?.Just a flip of a coin?
Other News - Links
- Giant national debt needs giant calculator.The bigger the better ?
- Goat wanders into nursing home in the Bronx.The year of the Goat in the Bronx ?
- Thin thighs - maybe not your heart's desire.Ok girlzzz throw away all those slimming pills!
- Frog in Pepsi can -- it's the real thing: FDA. The saying "There's a frog in my throat" comes to my mind?
- Man allegedly calls 911 twice to say he's hungry.Matthew 23:40 !
- Union says firefighters forced to bathe elephant. Cleanliness is next to godliness!
- Obviously it wasn't armed robbery. How about facilities for disabled persons?
- Alleged robber ID'd after leaving wallet at bank. Who's done it?
- Pa. man fires cannon, hits neighbor's house.Ah the civil war reenacted !
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- How not to save a beached whale. A case off "Put the kyweedis to it" I think these guy's did a great job !!!!!
- Chinese scientists 'filmed UFO for 40 minutes.'Maybe "they" can learn Chinese meanwhile?
Posted on September 16, 2009
Other News - Links
- Police: Ohio robbery suspect asked victim for date."Courtship Interruptus"!
- Bush, Arnie top English gobbledegook poll."Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounc'd it to you,trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our players do,
I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines." Shakespeare !
- H1N1 flu stops Italians kissing saint's blood.How about kissing it witha mask?
- Ohio judge orders shoplifters to wear T-shirts. A human advertising campaign or a trendy look?
- Del. trooper nabs man wearing colleague's watch.In the nick of time?
- NY man's next blood donation will be gallon No. 40. That's a huge donation!
- Thirsty Fla. woman accused of stealing change . Why not ask for a glass of water?
- Man on death row gets jail term for TV criticism. That must have hurt him????
- Illegal immigrant scores big Swedish lottery win.A stroke of luck!
- Gnarls Barkley Crazy Theremin Jam.Now that's"Crazy"!
- Oil boom fuels mystery of the missing island in the Mexican Gulf.How do you loose an island maybe ask Chris Angel?
- Pigeon transfers data faster than South Africa's Telkom."Faster than a speeding pidgeon?"
Posted on September 14, 2009
Other News - Links
- Baby born at 9:09 on 9/9/09 weighs 9 lbs, 9 ounces.This number has been used to describe the perfect movement of God!
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- Man nabbed after trying to 'scare' lesson into cat. Mhhhh sounds like animal cruelty to me.
- Officials: Man demands to drink beer before arrest.A beer ,a beer ,my kingdom for a beer?
- Pigskin-picking camel snubs Eagles because of Vick.Do animals watch the news?
- Cat in Ohio survives 26 days under fire debris.8 more lives to go !
- 2012; The End of the World…or is it? What if they miscalculated the date ?
- Amazing UFO video taken above Beijing revealed.In the US it's swamp gas or weather balloons !
Posted on September 11, 2009
Other News - Links
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- Deputy, trooper stun elk to free it from fence.Strange way of animal protection?
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- Man cited for cursing in public under 1887 law. That law is gone generate a lot of work!
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- Derren Brown leaves more questions than answers as he explains lottery trick.A rabbit foot?
- Derren Brown's Lottery trick: is this how he did it?.A shamrock?
Posted on September 09, 2009
Other News - Links
Posted on September 02, 2009
- The Mysterious Collapse of WTC Seven.Now you see it now you don't.A must read !!!
- Is the Starchild Skull really from a human-alien hybrid?." The Truth is out there?"
- More on the starchild skull here!
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- Deputy goes to wrong home, finds different suspect. The law works in mysterious ways?
- How to solve a Rubiks Cube in a different way .A nose job?
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- Boy fakes kidnapping to hide bad grades.I hope he takes later drama classes.
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Posted on September 04, 2009
Other News - Videos, Stories etc.
'Alien baby' in Mexico stumps experts !
According to The Daily Telegraph :
“Mexican TV revealed the almost unbelievable story – in 2007, a baby ‘alien’ was found alive by a farmer in Mexico. He drowned it in a ditch out of fear, and now two years later scientists have finally been able to announce the results of their tests on this sinister-looking carcass. At the end of last year the farmer, Marao Lopez, handed the corpse over to university scientists who carried out DNA tests and scans. He claimed that it took him three attempts to drown the creature and he had to hold it underwater for hours. Tests revealed a creature that is unknown to scientists – its skeleton has characteristics of a lizard, its teeth do not have any roots like humans and it can stay underwater for a long time.”
“According to the scientists’ report, the alien baby can stay underwater for a long time, has the skeleton of a lizard, and has rootless teeth which are totally unlike humans’ teeth. However, it does have some similar joints to human. The brain of the alien baby is huge, particularly the rear section, which makes the scientists believe that the creature had very high intelligence.”
Source : The Daily Telegraph
The starchild skull: On Coast to Coast radio with George Noory this Friday night, Sept. 18th, the first two hours, 10 pm to 12 midnight PST. We'll discuss the latest developments with the Starchild, updates about it, etc. We'll also discuss the recent "alien" body revealed on Mexican TV by Jaime Maussan. That "alien" is the tiny being that the farmer claims he drowned in 2007.
Other News - Links
Posted on August 28, 2009
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- NJ police say pot plants growing on High Street.Now i understand the name "High"street !
- Execution fails over inmate's unsuitable veins .They diddent have that prob with the electric chair!
- SC teen bags 10-foot alligator with a crossbow. Who's her boyfriend ?Rambo?
- Man accused of trading dad's car for $50 in crack. I hope the law "cracks" down on him!
- Ill. teacher accused of giving girls alcohol, pot . A mathematician and the sum is ?Trouble !
- Man allegedly asks guests to leave with shotgun.I guess the party is over?
- Two Bermuda Triangle disappearances may have been solved. .On paper every thing looks good.
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