Clipmarks | Aribeth's 'animals' clips

Early Microscopes

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:05:56 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

"They were incredibly small, nay so small, in my sight,
that I judged that even if 100 of these very wee animals
lay stretched out one against another, they could
not reach to the length of a grain of coarse Sand."
[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek describes his discovery of bacteria]

From Robert Hooke's 'Micrographia' (1665)
at the National Library of Medicine [or turn the pages flash version]

Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek's simplistic single-lens microscope from the ~1670s in which two screws allowed the distance from the lens and the up-and-down movement of the specimen to be adjusted. [source]

Johann Franz Griendel published the first German book on microscopy in 1687. 'Micrographia Nova'

. 'Micrographia Nova' is available complete, in two sections, from the Universities of Strasbourg - Digital Old Books (SICD)

John Marshall's New Invented Double Microscope
for Viewing the Circulation of the Blood (~1698-1700)

1747, by Joachim Friedrich Meyen, online at SICD.

Animal senses humans don't have

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:25:56 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth
clipper's remarks: You might think you're smart, but none of your senses rival the keenest abilities in the animal world. Animals see in the dark, sniff prey miles away, and detect electrical output from muscle twitches in hidden meals. Read on, so you don't become one of those meals.<<

Clip Source: www.livescience.com

Amazing Animal Abilities

Bats

avoid obstacles and nab insects on the wing by emitting ultrasonic squeaks and interpreting the echo the sound waves make after bouncing off objects in the environment

biological sonar

echolocation

Sharks

special cells in their brains

sensitive to the electrical fields other creatures generate

can find fish hiding under sand by the weak electric signals their twitching muscles emit

Boa

Temperature-sensitive organs

sense the body heat of their prey

perceive depth and strike with deadly accuracy

Hummingbirds

attuned to wavelengths of light outside the visible range

Cats

tapetum lucidum

a mirror-like membrane in the backs of their eyes

lets them hunt and move in almost complete darkness

Snakes

use its tongues to collect particles wafting in the air

odors get processed and translated into electrical signals

Moths

detect

pheromones

Rats

By whisking the hairs across objects

form mental pictures of their surroundings

Drum Fish

hear

using

air bladders

Migratory birds

a form of synesthesia

Pictures of Cute Bears

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:53:51 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods

Clip Source: geniusbeauty.com

Pictures of Cute Bears

Tags: animals, pictures, pics, photos, photography, photo

Pure Nature -Amazing Horses

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 20:10:49 GMT

clipped by: sweetsfoods

Clip Source: 2photo.ru

Tags: animals, photo, photography, photos, pics, pictures, images

Regulating Evolution

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 08:15:08 GMT

clipped by: wildcat

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

Because genes encode instructions for building animal bodies, biologists once expected to find significant genetic differences among animals, reflecing their great diversity of forms. Instead very dissimilar animals have turned out to have very similar genes.

Mutations in DNA “switches” that control body-shaping genes, rather than in the genes themselves, have been a significant source of evolving differences among animals.

If humans want to understand what distinguishes animals, including ourselves, from one another, we have to look beyond genes.

At first glance, the list of animals could suggest any zoo. There’s an elephant, an armadillo, an opossum, a dolphin, a sloth, a hedgehog, big and small bats, a couple of shrews, some fish, a macaque, an orangutan, a chimpanzee and a gorilla—to name a few of the more familiar creatures. But this menagerie is not at all like any zoo that has been constructed before

It is a “virtual” zoo that contains only the DNA

sequences

of those animals

Tags: genomes, diversity, variety, nature, mutations

Robin Hanson on the "Great Filter"

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:37:50 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth
clipper's remarks: there is a "Great Filter" along the path between simple dead stuff and explosive life. The vast vast majority of stuff that starts along this path never makes it. In fact, so far nothing among the billion trillion stars in our whole past universe has made it all the way along this path.... [O]ne or more of these steps is much more improbable than it otherwise looks. If it is one of our past steps, such as the development of single-cell life, then we shouldn't expect to see such independently evolved life anywhere within billions of light years from us. But if it is a step between here and a choice to explode that is very improbable, we should fear for our future.... Optimism (as defined here) regarding our future is directly pitted against optimism regarding the ease of previous evolutionary steps. To the extent those successes were easy, our future failure to explode is almost certain...

Clip Source: econ161.berkeley.edu

The Great Filter - Are We Almost Past It?

Robin Hanson argues that either (a) our emergence as intelligent humans on the earth was very, very, very improbable and unlikely, but that our future (at least in terms of expansion of human-settled habitats throughout the universe) is bright, or (b) emergence as intelligent humans on the earth was relatively easy, but that our future is dim (and perhaps that our extinction is all but guaranteed).

The Great Filter: Consider our best-guess evolutionary path to an explosion which leads to visible colonization of most of the visible universe:

1. The right star system (including organics)
2. Reproductive something (e.g. RNA)
3. Simple (prokaryotic) single-cell life
4. Complex (archaeatic & eukaryotic) single-cell life
5. Sexual reproduction
6. Multi-cell life
7. Tool-using animals with big brains
8. Where we are now
9. [Interstellar] Colonization explosion

The Great Silence implies that one or more of these steps are very improbable;

Tags: theory, science, space colonization, biology, evolution

Rainbow Bridge

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:03:00 GMT

clipped by: murieleileen
clipper's remarks: This is for everyone who has ever lost a special oet.

Clip Source: www.petloss.com

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.

There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and

Tags: pets, poems, dogs, cats, comfort, loss

Borneo's mysterious pygmy elephants

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:06:44 GMT

clipped by: michellezm

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

BORNEO'S mysterious pygmy elephants may be the last survivors of Javan elephants thought to have become extinct centuries ago, the environmental group WWF said today.

The pygmy elephant has an appealing rounded appearance, and males stand only about 2.5 metres tall, compared to about 3.0 metres for mainland Asian elephants.

Their faces are smaller and squarer, their tails are longer, reaching almost to the ground, and their tusks are straighter.

Another major difference is their good temperament, calmer even than the Asian elephant which is famously cooperative and hardworking compared to the larger, more aggressive African subspecies which is rarely tamed.

It was only in 2003 that the pygmy elephants were identified as a new subspecies after DNA testing found they were genetically distinct.

WWF said satellite tracking has shown the animals prefer the same lowland habitat that is being increasingly cleared for timber, rubber and palm oil plantations.

Clip Source: www.panda.org

Elephas maximus borneensis) crossing a road." />

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

How to hide an elephant

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:33:30 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth

Clip Source: www.zuzafun.com

Tags: animals funny photos

Wolf Spirit

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:33:06 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: There are many ways that the forked animal can hide its nature. Sometimes it goes in the clothing of a wolf, but beware the disguises of the savahe biped. For myself, I would not eat, trap or harm any of my cousin animals.

Clip Source: www.xandrah.com

Clip Source: www.defenders.org

Wolves of America
A brief publication on the past, present and future of wolves in America.

Clip Source: debsden.blogspot.com

Clip Source: www.wolvesofwilliston.com

NOBILITY, CARE AND PROTECTION OF FAMILY, EXCELLENT HUNTING SKILLS FOR PROVIDING FOOD, LINKED WITH A KEEN SENSE OF SURVIVAL OF IT'S SPECIES, WERE ALL QUALITIES DESIRED BY THE EARLY AMERICAN NATIVES.


THEY RECOGNIZED THESE TRAITS TO BE PRESENT IN THE WOLF, AS IN NO OTHER ANIMAL. THUS, THEY HONORED AND REVERED THE WOLF, NOT ONLY AS A SPIRITUAL SYMBOL OF ALL THAT IS NOBLE, BUT ALSO, AS THEIR MENTOR AND MODEL, AS TO HOW THEY SHOULD CONDUCT THEIR DAILY LIVES, NOT ONLY TO SURVIVE AS A PEOPLE, BUT AS A SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE WITH HONOR, PRIDE AND DIGNITY SUCH AS ONLY THE NOBLE WOLF HAD TAUGHT THEM.

Clip Source: www.puzzlehouse.com

Clip Source: www.wolfmountain.com

The wolves are my family. They are part of me and I am part of them. We are one. My mother told me that I carry the spirit of the wolf.

Clip Source: robynwolf.spaces.live.com

Clip Source: www.elfwood.com

Clip Source: www.emblibrary.com

Clip Source: animalspirits.ladyinblack.com

Clip Source: www.sunnybrookfarmstudio.com

Clip Source: profile.myspace.com

Clip Source: www.firstpeople.us

Clip Source: richadamsphoto.com

Clip Source: gouk.about.com

Clip Source: www.geocities.com

Clip Source: www.worldofwallpapers.nuche.org

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Clip Source: www.markings.bc.ca

Tags: wolf, spirit

Tracking the Origin of the Cat

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:27:47 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth
clipper's remarks: Cats probably started living close to humans when people evolved from nomadic herding to raising livestock and crops and started storing food, which attracted mice and other rodents. Cats found good hunting there, and humans surely appreciated the sly little predators' help protecting their stocks."There was a mutual benefit," Lyons said.

From there, domesticated cats started to radiate out to different parts of the world, often following humans on their migrations. Today cats can be divided genetically into four broad groups: those from Europe, the Mediterranean, East Africa and Asia.

But Lyons and her colleagues also made surprising discoveries about individual breeds.

The Japanese bobtail, for example, does not seem genetically similar to cats from Japan, indicating the breed may have originated elsewhere.

Despite its name, the Persian, the oldest recognized breed, looks as though it actually arose in Western Europe and not Persia, which today is Iran.

Clip Source: www.wtnrradio.com

Scientists have begun to pull back the feline veil, using the latest molecular tools to get a peek at the origin of the cat.

In one of the most comprehensive explorations of cats' origins to date, Leslie Lyons from the University of California at Davis, and her colleagues spent about five years collecting feline DNA, poking behind the whiskers of more than 1,100 Persians, Siamese, street cats and household tabbies around the world to swab inside their mouths.

The first thing the group did was confirm a report published last June in the journal Science that the domestication of cats about 10,000 years ago appeared to have occurred in an area known as the Fertile Crescent, which stretches from Turkey to northern Africa and to modern-day Iraq and Iran.

"Our data support the Fertile Crescent, specifically Turkey, as one of the origin sites for cats," said Lyons

"Turkey was part of the Fertile Crescent and hence was one of the earliest areas for agricultural development."

Tags: animals

Scientists discover secret sex nerve

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:56:16 GMT

clipped by: Aribeth
clipper's remarks: Couples who have high levels of chemicals in common are more likely to encounter fertility issues, miscarriage and infidelity. The more dissimilar you and your partner’s chemical makeup, the better chance you will have at successfully procreating and staying together.

So how can you create the scent which will keep you and your partner in the land of happily ever after? Unfortunately, you can’t. Perfumes and colognes can’t fool Nerve “O” — the scents which humans and animals are attracted to are intangible and instinctive. Even the most expensive designer perfume can’t fool Mother Nature. When it comes to sexual attraction, it seems you really have to leave things in the air!

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

Scientists discover secret sex nerve

Looking for a perfect match? Research says to follow your nose

What makes us fall in love? Is it lust, mutual interests, shared life goals, or something much more intangible?

Researchers have only recently discovered an olfactory nerve which they believe is the route through which pheromones are processed.

Nerve “O” has endings in the nasal cavity, but the fibers go directly to the sexual regions of the brain. Indeed, these endings entirely bypass the olfactory cortex! Hence we know the role of Nerve “O” is not to consciously smell, but to identify sexual cues from our potential partners.

we are more likely to be attracted to people whose scent is dissimilar to our own. Family members often share similar chemicals, so our attraction to differing chemical makeup suggest that sexual cues evolved to protect close family members from procreating together.

Research has

shown that these unconscious cues processed in Nerve “O” can make or break a relationship.

Incredible World Wildlife Fund Posters From Around the World

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:25:04 GMT

clipped by: urbanlife
clipper's remarks: WWF’s ultimate goal is to build a future where people live in harmony with nature. Here are a couple of the messages:

“Preserve your world. Preserve yourself.”

“Global Warming is changing the world’s climate rapidly. Icebergs are melting, oceans are rising, nature is revolting. Act now, conserve energy and treat the planet with respect, or we’ll have a world at sea.”

“Animals around the world are losing their habitats due to climate change. By choosing a hybrid or fuel-efficient car, you can help prevent this. Take action now.”

“Save the world with a few coins”

“For Nature, small animals are as important as the big ones.”

“A single can of dissolvent, or tin of paint, can pollute millions of liters of water.”

“Building a single golf course puts thousands of trees at stake.”

“Where is your home?”

http://www.wwf.org/

Clip Source: ajanlo.kapu.hu

Tags: poster, wwf, global warming, environment, preserve, nature

Secret Sex Lives of Animals

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 19:23:16 GMT

clipped by: rj3sp
clipper's remarks: A few recent items and images clipped from Secret Sex Lives of Animals. a blog with a weekly column on the bizarre, wonderful, colourful and sometimes shocking world of animal mating habits.

Clip Source: secretsexlives.blogspot.com

Best Nature Photo Award Winners

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 23:26:43 GMT

clipped by: murieleileen

Clip Source: articles.mercola.com

Best Nature Photo Award Winners

Tags: pictures, photos, nature, animals

Clipmarks | Aribeth's 'animals' clips

Early Microscopes

Animal senses humans don't have

Amazing Animal Abilities

Bats

Sharks

Boa

Hummingbirds

Cats

Snakes

Moths

Rats

Drum Fish

Migratory birds

Pictures of Cute Bears

Pictures of Cute Bears

Pure Nature -Amazing Horses

Regulating Evolution

Robin Hanson on the "Great Filter"

The Great Filter - Are We Almost Past It?

Rainbow Bridge

Rainbow Bridge

Borneo's mysterious pygmy elephants

How to hide an elephant

Wolf Spirit

Tracking the Origin of the Cat

Scientists discover secret sex nerve

Scientists discover secret sex nerve

Looking for a perfect match? Research says to follow your nose

Incredible World Wildlife Fund Posters From Around the World

Secret Sex Lives of Animals

Lovesick albatross still looking for romance after 40 years

Gay flamingos pick up chick

Ever wondered how dinosaurs… er…you know…did it?

Bats: More brain than brawn?

Lonesome George still a devout bachelor

Best Nature Photo Award Winners