Eight Poisonous Animals part 2 Marbled Cone Snail

First off, let me reassure you that this snail lives in the sea, not on land! You have probably picked up the shell of this snail on the beach before. The The marbled snail shell ranged from black and yellow/white to orange and yellow and grows up to nine inches. Now that's a big snail!

The cone snail has an intriguing and very different way of capturing it's prey. Armed with a harpoon (called a toxoglossin radula) like stinger it shoot it at prey passing and the stinger filled with toxic venom, and like a harpoon with a rope; the snail reels in it's dinner. These harpoons are individual teeth attached to the radula in it's throat. Each tooth is barbed and hollow, but filled with poison. After swallowing it's dinner, the cone snail regurgitates whatever it couldn't digest along with the useless tooth. The cone snail can fire it's harpoons in any direction, even backwards!!!

The toxins from the venom cause numbness, swelling and as your blood cells are being invaded and flooded, lots of pain. To people it can cause slurred speech, muscle, and affect your vision.

These cone snails prefer to be around reefs where fish and other snails are plentiful to eat, and safe ground. There are over 500 different species of cone snail! They range from Australia, Caribbean, Pacific, Red sea, and along the coast of Florida.

If you go diving and see a marbled cone snail, don't pick it up! They can sting through a wet suit.

Eight most poisonous animals 1 Blue Ringed Octopus

Although this little guy looks cute and harmless, he has a deadly bite! The fatal neurotoxins in this golf ball size octopus's saliva is instant in action. If ever bitten by one of these, a painful death follows. They can kill an adult in minutes. And there is no known antidote for the poison. If you are fortunate, after several hours of your heart and body being massaged and the poison worked out of your blood, you might survive.

The poison in the blue octopus's saliva comes from two glands on either side of it's head, both glands the size of it's brain. Poison from one is used for hunting and isn't a threat to people. Poison in the other gland is used in defense against predators.

This octopus gets it's name because of the blue circles that appear when it is about to attack prey or predator. The circles are otherwise invisible. Their color is usually yellowish brown.

Starting it's life out the size of a pea, the Hapalochlaena maculosa, blue ringed octopus lives in shallow pools in Australia.

If you ever go to Australia, watch out for the blue ringed octopus!

A World Unknown

Two very interesting articles I discovered on National Geographic.

"Mantis shrimp eyes could be the inspiration behind a new way to store and read digital data, say scientists from the University of Bristol who have studied the complex vision system of the stromatopod, which is not really a shrimp.

The mantis shrimp is known to see colors invisible to humans and other animals, viewing the world in 11 or 12 primary colors, as opposed to our humble 3. Humans have been able to see polarized light only within the past decade, and only with the aid of technology, such as digital cameras and polarizers. Blue light oscillates, or vibrates, faster than green, for example, and both of those colors are faster than red. The oscillation's direction is known as polarization.

Many animals, from parakeets to ants, can see linear polarization—what happens when light follows different angles after it's reflected off of water or a transparent membrane such as a fly's wing.

Bees and some birds navigate by polarized skylight, and fish and crustaceans use polarization for navigation and seeing prey.

But mantis shrimp are the first animals known to see both linear polarization and a much rarer type called circular polarization. Anne Minard

"The mantis shrimp can see far beyond what humans are capable of, including ultraviolet, infrared and circularly polarized light. It also sees in 12 colors, as opposed to the cells in human eyes that only detect three colors.

The researchers have determined the mechanism that the shrimp uses to convert polarized light, which they say works better than man-made polarizing filters because it works across most of the spectrum, while man-made filters usually only work for one wavelength of light.
CD and DVD players use a single wavelength of circularly polarized laser light to read the data on a disc. New filters developed from the shrimp's eyes could allow players to use more than one reading laser, allowing more data to be packed onto a single disc.
Why the shrimp need to see in so many colors and different polarizations is unknown, but their eyes could help them find prey (polarized filters are used on cameras to cut through reflections), or signal to each other secretly without predators noticing."

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Home for the Holidays---Merry Christmas 2009

Being home is so relaxing. There is nothing I like better. Snuggling around a good book under fuzzy blankets with eight other pairs of toes touching yours. Sticky fingers touch the window for the fourth time today. I start to huff and puff, but then consider how short a time it will be before those hands are grown men and women.

A poem I wrote ...

Sticky fingers, pudgy nose, batter lingers on the clothes. Icing in bowl, tiny tots glow, coals in the fire, boughs going higher. Gather around, and listen close, for in 'Christmas Carol', there might be a ghost! Strings and ribbons, bling and gibbons. The birth of Christ will come yon night.

As we make ginger bread houses and cookies, and the kitchen cabinet piles quickly with dishes, I consider how blessed I am to have a family to make a mess. How blessed to be one with my family. In joyful unity. I love the holidays because it brings even more family together. I could never imagine life without my siblings. Sometimes I complain about how much I pick up, but that is my job! I am a home keeper, my parent's helper, I am a woman who has a mission in the home.

It shows you how much family can mean. My family, not just mom and dad and the seven siblings, but grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins; all having a good time together.

We have lacked for nothing, just as God promised.

" Matthew 6:25

For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to to his life?"

Christmas isn't about how many presents are under the tree, it's about the enormous gift God gave us. Giving us his son! We were sinners doomed to die! We deserved death; but God chose to preserve us. That is the greatest gift one could receive.

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10 "

Have a Merry Christmas everyone! I won't be on the blog until after new years.

Bria Crawford

Obama on Science

Sorry to stray to the political side of science, but this video astounded me.

This is from the person who posted this video, called 'The Rational Skeptic' (I am not recommencing you to visit this site!)

"This video makes me so very happy. To see our president speak so clearly and intelligently regarding the value of science is almost surreal, considering the past eight years. He mentions the anniversary of Darwin’s birth, and the mere fact that he referred to the occasion says a lot, especially considering the percentage of our country that holds extreme antipathy towards Darwin. So, I think it shows that Obama knows the significance of evolutionary theory, and the enormously positive ramifications it has had on modern science."

I am not going to rant about this like I want to, I will simply say that this man is a tool of Satan's to make the clean waters of Christ polluted and murky. What is your opinion? (Please keep them gentle and without malice)

Evolution vs. Creation: Preparing Our Children for the War Zone

This article by my mother

“The teaching of evolution has HUGE implications for Christianity and the transmitting of our faith to our children. If you remove Creation you remove the Creator; and if you remove the Creator you destroy all moral constraint….” -
Chip Ingram

The reason evolution continues to win the faith of so many, (despite widely accepted claims that its theories are insufficient), is that if evolution isn’t true, we have to answer to Someone. It changes everything about the way we live; the majority of the world doesn’t want to answer and so they simply choose to believe there is no Author of life.

I’ve heard Christians speak about the subject of evolution as if it were a minor thing; just a small erroneous teaching in the Science department.

Do we not comprehend the implications? They are huge! The theory of evolution creates (no pun intended) the foundational war zone between Christianity and its enemies. Our belief in Creation or evolution changes our entire life philosophy.

Last week we attended the premier of
The Mysterious Islands, a documentary produced by Vision Forum in response to the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species.

What I appreciate so much about Doug’s efforts regarding science is his fervent passion to explain how fundamentally important it is that Christians understand the war being fought between evolution and Creation, and what it is doing to a new generation of people schooled under the tutelage of the former.

Though I’ve heard all the arguments and have no reservations about the proof that evolution (macro) did not give birth to this world, I want to become a student of the facts and theories so that I am better able to give an answer. And I would encourage parents to make this a vital discussion in your home. Help your children understand that all if life is to be viewed in light of its Creator and that He has not only displayed His glory over all the earth but that He demands our reverence and honor as our Creator.

We must all have faith to believe what we believe; even atheists have faith in order to believe there is no God. (Favorite atheist quote: “Atheist believe there is no God, and they hate Him.”)

Do not underestimate the vital battle for your child’s mind as evolution is propagated throughout our culture. It is NO small thing; it is, perhaps, the biggest insult to God that man ever dared to sling.