A photograph captured a rare phenomenon, the fish that swim in jellyfish has become a hot issue on social media recently. And until now, the photos taken in the waters of eastern Australia that has been viewed more than two million times.
The unique photo successfully taken by a photographer Tim Samuel while swimming with a friend Franny Plumridge in the waters near the tourist resort of Byron Bay, last December. The tiny fish trapped in the body of jellyfish that are larger than its body. Facial expressions of the fish visible from the outside, because the body of jellyfish translucent. The fish looks scared and panic.
Tim Samuel was free diving in the waters off Byron Bay, near the Queensland-New South Wales border, when he noticed a jellyfish bobbing past with a fish trapped inside it. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1b4P84)
"It was trapped inside the jellyfish but it controls the movement of the jellyfish," Samuel said in his posting on Instagram.
After his picture re-repost by an account alias @discoverocean on Monday, June 6, 2016, Samuel admitted that he got a lot of phone calls.
"When @franny.plumridge and I found it, we realized that we found something special, but we do not know if this turned out to be a rare phenomenon," he wrote.
He posted the first image in December which depicted his friend Franny Plumridge (pictured) swimming behind the unlikely duo. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1b4P84)
"I was really surprised by the many highlights from around the world," said Samuel.
Some netizens also give their own opinions. Some suspect the fish is stung by thejellyfish, while others highlight the tail still outside the body of the jellyfish, so that it can control the movement of the jellyfish.
William Gladstone, a marine life experts agree that this is indeed a rare phenomenon. Academics from the University of Technology in Sydney, told the Sydney Morning Herald, said that he had ever seen the trevally fish hiding in the jellyfish, but have never seen anything like Samuel's photo shoots. Samuel photos has been viewed 2.3 million times on the photo sharing sites, Imgur.
Samuel thought of trying to help the fish out of the body of the jellyfish. However, he decided to let nature find their own way. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | DAILY MAIL]
Consumers may get more choice of natural colors for wool products, because Chinese scientists can change the color of the sheep fleece by editing the animal genes. Scientists from Urumqi, Xinjiang, managed to raise five lambs in a variety of colors by using a technique known as CRISPR-Cas9.
In Xinjiang Academy of Zootechnical Science, there are five sheep that attract attention. Two of them had color shades of black and white, the other two are black with white spots, while one sheep was brown and white like a cappuccino.
5 colorful sheep were raised at Xinjiang Academy of Zootechnical Science. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1axGj8)
"The sheep are born in March, it has become our beloved pets," said lead researcher, Liu Mingjun. And according to Liu, this is the first time scientists alter the fleece color of large animals through the CRISPR-Cas9 techniques. Previously, the experiment performed limited on mice only.
As quoted from Xinhua on Tuesday, June 7, 2016, Liu team chose ASIP, which is a key gene to affect the color of fleece, which is used to edit the colors as their wish.
CRISPR, or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, was chosen as the latest breakthrough in 2015 by one of the US science journal. The findings were assessed as molecular scissors that can selectively discard unwanted parts of the genome and replace it with new DNA. Meanwhile Cas9 are certain types of proteins related to CRISPR where patterns can be altered by genetic modification of the genome.
By using CRISPR-Cas9 techniques, consumers
can buy wool products with more variety of color choices without having
to add artificial coloring. Not only that, farmers can also order
different colors according to their needs or preferences.
"Compared with the traditional approach of gene mutations, in which researchers require decades to develop new seeds, by editing of the genes are much more effective," said Liu.
In the past year, his team has designed 38 sheep that outperformed ordinary ones in muscle and wool growth. Those animals will be studied more about the genetic stability during reproduction in the autumn of this year.. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | XINHUA]
A half-meter long insect was found in southern China, has been named as the longest insect in the world, as reported by Xinhua this week. An insect with a 62.4 centimeters long was found two years ago in the province of Guangxi.
According to the Insect Museum of West China, the animals commonly called as the stick grasshoppers, now holds the record for the longest insect are among 807,625 insect species in the world.
The previous record for the longest insect in the world pinned on a stick grasshopper found in 2008 in Malaysia. Insects along the 56.7 cm, which is now on display at the National History Museum, London, England.
The longest stick grasshopper in China was found by Zhao Li, a local scientist. He was hunting insects for six years, after hearing the villagers story about the grasshopper as big as the human finger with a length of more than half a meter.
The file photo shows the world's longest insect (C) compared with other insects in size. The Insect Museum of West China in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, told Xinhua Thursday that a 62.4-cm-long stick insect found during a field inspection in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 2014 has broken the record for length for all 807,625 insects discovered so far. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aAV89)
"I'm collecting insects in a mountain height of 1,200 meters in the city of Liuzhou, Guangxi on August 16, 2014, when a black shadow appeared in the distance. It is similar to tree branches," said Zhao.
The file photo shows the world's longest insect on the forearm of an adult. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aAV89)
"I approached it and was surprised, because the legs of a giant insect that even as long as the body of the animal itself," he added.
The stick grasshopper was then named Phryganistria chinensis Zhao, in honor of the inventor himself. A scientific review of the insects will also be published soon. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | XINHUA]
In the wild, the largest creatures on the Earth, turn out are gentle creatures, and not dangerous. Yes, the blue whales or Balaenoptera musculus, the sea creatures are believed to be the biggest living beings who ever lived on the planet, even bigger than the biggest dinosaurs.
The largest blue whale ever recorded weighed 181 tons and a length of 33 meters. If placed on the ground, the blue whale is equal to a length of 9 family cars! And the heart size of the sea mamals is similar to the size of a car, with the blood vessels was big too, so that we could swim in it.
Imagine if we sail in the ocean for the first time, exploring the places that we have never seen, and suddenly at beside the ship, we saw blue whales come to the surface, and its size turned out to be more length than the ship that we were riding.
Maybe we will be afraid, especially perhaps because we have never seen a living creature with a size so large, we also do not know, what this giant sea creatures could do, whether it can flip over the ship and feed on humans. In fact, we need not fear with this giant sea creature.
The staple food of blue whales is krill, though they also eat copepods in small quantities. Zooplankton species is eaten by various blue whales from one ocean to another. In the North Atlantic, Meganyctiphanes norvegica, Thysanoessa raschii, Thysanoessa inermis and Thysanoessa longicaudata were their common foods. While in the South Pacific, Euphausia pacifica, Thysanoessa inermis, Thysanoessa longipes, Thysanoessa spinifera, Nyctiphanes simplex dan Nematoscelis megalops. And in the Antarctic, they ate Euphausia superba, Euphausia crystallorophias dan Euphausia vallentini.
An adult blue whale can eat up as much as 40 million krill per day. They always ate in areas with high concentrations of krill, so sometimes it takes approximately 3,600 kilograms (7,900 lbs) of krill in a single day. Blue whales filling their bellies in waters rich in krill in the Antarctic before migrating to breeding grounds in warmer waters and less rich in krill near the equator.
Perhaps one of the most spectacular of the blue whales are the sounds they make. Researchers have measured the low-frequency sounds produced by blue whales to communicate with each other using the decible-meter devices.
Some of their vocalizations have been recorded as loud as 188 decibels and can be heard as far as 848 km! Wow, just for comparison, the sound of jet aircraft that was taking off is 120 decibels. Thus, we can conclude that the blue whale is a living creature that is able to produce the loudest sound in the world.
Why the Blue Whale can be sized so big? So far, researchers still are not sure why, but they believe with certainty that any of the dinosaurs in the past, they never reached the size of a blue whale. This is the greatest living creature that has ever lived on the Earth, and is still alive today.
One important reason why whales can reach large sizes is that they have a large living space, a large area to move around and explore. Because more than 70% of the Earth is water.
Now, we get to know that the blue whales are completely harmless to humans, and in fact, they have something in common with the human, that they are the warm-blooded mammals who must breathe with the air.
They are also social animals with complex language and intelligence. And most importantly, the blue whales are not a monster at all, they are a gentle giant that we must respect, admire, and protect. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC INDONESIA]
The Bawean island is a small island in the Java Sea, lies around 120 kilometers north of Gresik, East Java province, Indonesia. Behind the beauty of Bawean island, it turns out save one of the rarest species in the world.
Not many people know when Bawean be home for Sus blouchi, a dwarf warty pigs species which are relatives of the Java wild boar (Sus verrucosus). At first glance the Bawean warty pigs looks like the wild boar in general.The pigs are characterized by distinctive markings. The females look very similar to wild boar while the males have three pairs of big warts on each side of the face.
And according to a study recently published in the PLoS One journal, revealed that the Bawean warty pigs are under threat of extinction. Mark Rademaker from the VHL University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands as well as the study author, said that if the current estimated only remaining about 250 mature Bawean warty pigs.
Female and male Bawean warty pigs -- image from camera trap. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1Zcjmg)
Furthermore, Rademaker added if the Bawean warty pigs population would drop dramatically suddenly due to changes in their habitatalthough the slightest, need to remembered the warty pigs isolated on the Bawean island. Moreover the Bawean wild boar are often regarded as the pests for the locals, so that they do not hesitate to kill the endangered species.
With a population of less than 250, Indonesia's Bawean warty pig is world's rarest pig. Experts said the animal deserves to be listed as endangered in IUCN's Red List. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZckXd)
Rademaker initially thought the Bawean warty pigs extinct before finally recording these wild boar at the beginning of this year using the camera traps mounted in the forest. Then the video was uploaded on YouTube channel.
Rademaker was so happy because this is the first time the Bawean warty pigs recorded on the camera. Based on the video uploaded on YouTube, and the Bawean warty pigs more active at night than daytime or called as the nocturnal animals. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | MERDEKA | TECHTIMES]
The medieval cartographers marking at a number of sites located in the Lesser Sunda Islands or Nusa Tenggara: as the abode of the dragon. The dragons what they mean can not fly or breathe fire. However, the creature was no less terrible than mythical animals in a fairy tale. With the body of 3 meters and weighing 70 kilograms, these animals can run up to speeds of 29 km/h to catch its prey.
So when they get or catch their preys in the form of a water buffalo or elk, these creatures will use their razor sharp teeth to tear prey, while injecting a poison that makes its victims to bleed to death were tortured.
The city of Labuan Bajo dubbed the 'Gate of Komodo'. So when you landed in Labuan Bajo not complete if you do not visit and look the Komodo (Varanus komodoensis) as the last dragons in Earth. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1XdBI1)
Not only animals, 'dragon' had also been prey on humans. The dragon in question is Komodo (Varanus komodoensis), which inhabits the island of Rinca, Gili Motang, Nusa Kode, Flores and Komodo.
Actually, the giant reptiles are originally from Australia, they lived in the Kangaroo continent millions of years ago before migrating and reach Indonesian territory about 900 thousand years ago.
Komodo dragons live in the rugged landscape, bush and savanna. Animals that can be camouflaged and waiting patiently for prey to approach them. They will eat anything, even human.
The natural beauty of Komodo Island from the top. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1XdBI1)
"I have seen what can be done by these animals and how much they could injure a human being," said Achmad Ariefiandy of Komodo Survival Program (KSP). "No need to be like a movie star anyway if you eventually will be bitten by them."
There was a horrendous incident related to the Komodo dragons attack. which occurred in the Los Angeles Zoo, the United States in 2001. At that time, a komodo dragon trying to prey on foot of Phil Bronstein, an editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, which incidentally is the husband of the famous artist, Sharon Stone. Fortunately, the victim can survive even had to undergo treatment at the hospital.
Komodo can devour prey up to 80 percent of their body weight, and then they do not need to eat for a few weeks with only silence to sun bath. On several occasions, they attacked the people who live near their habitat. There were four human costs in the last 4 decades, the locals treat it as 'sacred animal'.
"The creature has a number of weapons systems," said Bryan Fry of the University of Queensland, was quoted as saying some of the BBC on Sunday, February 28, 2016.
"The teeth become the main weapon. However, if you do not die due to rupture of the femoral artery, the prey will undoubtedly have died due to blood loss."
An endangered animal
Although Komodo survived from various natural disaster: the ice age, sea level rise, earthquakes, tsunamis that happened and also devastating on the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Although tough, in fact, the biggest threat to dragons is the population and the growing human activity. Komodo captured and sold to the zoo or to the collector. Their feet and skin are considered achievements in hunting activities. Besides that the rise in sea level that is also as a result of human activities.
So the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List gives the label as an endangered animal. The Komodo National Park and many conservation efforts have so far managed to keep the animals from extinction. However, that does not mean there is no threat at all.
The other causes, the number of eggs produced by females very little. There is no guarantee the komodo dragons can continue to survive or grow up to 7 meters like their ancestors before.
Here it is, one good news, the animal conservation efforts are also done in some zoos. It was supported by the fact that the female komodo dragons can give birth in virgin condition.Flora, the Komodo dragon that living in the Chester Zoo, London became one evident. In 2006, she gave birth to eight Komodo eggs. Through the process of parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction without fertilization).
The incident at London Zoo was recorded as the first Komodo dragons parthenogenesis in the world.The
animal conservation efforts began when Claudio Ciofi, a biologist at
the University of Florence who arrived in Indonesia in mid-1990s and
'falling love' with the komodo dragons.
The
fact that the Komodo dragons conservation efforts initiated and led
mostly foreigners, recognized by Ariefiandy as 'shameful'. "Komodo is
the Indonesian national animals, Indonesian people should be done more
for the komodo research and another protection efforts," he said. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC]
In 1883, after its population was reduced drastically due to act of the hunter, the world's last quagga died in the Amsterdam zoo. Quagga is a sub-species of zebra from South Africa, the only difference is they do not have dappled in the leg.
More than 100 years after the quagga extinct, scientists claimed that has been brought back the sub-species back to life, through selective breeding that diligently done for 30 years.
In the project called The Quagga Project, that begun 30 years ago, when Reinhold Rau, an inventor from the University of Cape Town, analyzing a collection of DNA samples from the quagga's skin. When the results arrived, he was surprised and delighted to discover the once-extinct creature is genetically the same as the zebra. In other words, quagga and zebra not a different species.
This knowledge is important, as it proves, the real difference between a zebra and quagga is located on fur patterns. With this information, Rau was planning to 'awaken' the species by selective breeding zebra to bring the quagga characteristics.
Scientist found that the Quagga genetically the same as the Zebra. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1WxuPA)
The main difference between the two species is the quagga graded stripes of black and white to brown or white plain towards the hind legs. Quagga in the 19th century sort of looks like the zebra after sat in the mud.
After breeding for 30 years, the team claims that the quagga has returned. Since the zebra and quagga have same DNA, scientists say, this latest generation was the extinct animals back to life.
"By all intents and purposes, the quagga back in. The project was a huge success," said one researcher, Eric Harley, as quoted ScienceAlert.
Although this sounds awesome project, many are critical of it and call it 'violates the natural law' and 'efforts to find public attention'. The team also responded that they did not use genetic modification to revive the quagga, and the project was responsible for the act of a hunter, and bring back the South African native animals they killed brutally.
However, the team agreed to call this new animal as 'Rau-quagga,' not quagga, to distinguish it. It is hoped this will silence the protesters.
One of the amazing aspects of this project, is that although rau-quagga were the breeding results animals, they are fertile. This is because, rau-quagga not the result of interbreeding. They are sub-species retain his genes, so that they can successfully breed.
The team hopes to continue the project to eventually create rau-quagga herd so that they could live freely in South Africa should their ancestors in the 19th century. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | THEQUAGGAPROJECT| SCIENCEALERT]
More than 100 years that's why black and white pattern on Zebra has been a perennial secret. In fact, has invited a lot of debate among scientists. However, after reaching a general consensus that the zebra line is for camouflage. But, it turns to a recent study dispelled that argument.
Scientists from the University of Calgary and UC Davis shows a digital image of a group of zebra. Taken from Tanzania through spatial and color filter, and the simulation shows how the animal will be seen by their primary predators (such as lions and hyenas) as well as other zebra.
Zebra stripes not for camouflage, scientists confirm. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/1PRypaU)
They also measure the width and luminance or brightness of the lines to estimate their maximum distance which can be detected by different species, using information about their vision.
The study, published in the PLoS ONE journal, found that the stripes on the zebra was not used to camouflage. Predator can smell them and can still see the black and white motif on their body, as reported by Independent on Tuesday, January 26, 2016.
Researchers found, at a distance of 50 meters during the day and at 30 meters at dusk, when most predators hunt, the lines can be detected by humans but difficult for predators to distinguish. On a moonless night lines that make it difficult for all of the species to see zebra exceed nine meters.
Thus, this research says that the lines are not for camouflage, where a strip of black is considered the tree and white is the light that appeared between the trees.
What is the use of black & white pattern on the Zebra?
Amanda Melin, lead author of the study and assistant professor of anthropology biological at the University of Calgary, says, "The longest hypothesis for zebra stripe is crypsis, or camouflage, but until now the question is always through human eyes."
"Instead, we performed a series of calculations in which we were able to estimate the distance at which the lions and hyenas, as well as zebra, can see zebra stripes during the day, dusk, or during a moonless night."
Tim Caro, co-author of the study and associate professor of wildlife biology at UC Davis said, "The results of this new study does not provide any support at all for the idea that the zebra stripes provide some kind of anti-predator camouflage effect.
"On the contrary, we reject the hypothesis that has long been debated by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace."
After reviewing the location of striped animals and a number of variables that overlap, they concluded that the lines it is the evolution of the zebra to avoid blood-sucking flies.
Unlike other African mammals that live in the same area, zebra fur shorter than the length of the mouth of the blood-sucking insects. Making them particularly vulnerable. Allegedly, black and white are the result of evolution (a reaction to the problems they face). To repel those biting insects. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | INDEPENDENT]
Tree frogs are thought to have become extinct 1 century ago was found again in India. This remarkable discovery was found by Sathyabhama Das Biju and his team in the jungle northeast India.
This discovery gives hope that the tree frogs may be found in other areas of China to Thailand. Not only that, the study of these findings make the experts have to reclassify the entire genus.
Unusually, the frogs (Frakixalus Jerdonii) feed mostly on vegetation, rather than insects or larvae. (Picture from: http://bbc.in/1RAWVmE)
The frog with the size of a golf ball that live in tree holes as high as 6 meters from the ground. That is why their presence is hidden and difficult to detect. This unique species of frogs. Females do not release eggs into the water, but incubated in the tree holes containing water. When it became a tadpole, they fed 'children' with the eggs failed to hatch. Unlike other frogs that eat larvae and insects, the adult tree frogs eat the moss.
Sathyabhama Das Biju eventually known as the Frog Man of India, because he has found 89 of the 350 species of frogs.
Instead of teeth, the tadpoles have smooth mouths, to suck in the eggs they eat. (Picture from: http://bbc.in/1RAWVmE)
"At that time, we heard the lovely orchestra sound were playing. There was a very magical, and when examined we found them," Biju said as quoted by the BBC on Thursday, January 21, 2016.
The tadpole's eyes are closer to the top of its head than most - possibly so it can see eggs being dropped into its tree pond at feeding time. (Picture from: http://bbc.in/1RAWVmE)
After the DNA test, Biju and his colleagues say the tree frog is a new kind. In other words, the animal was entitled to a new name. Frogs were originally named Polypedates Jerdonii was then given the name of the inventor Thomas Jerdon. Jerdon is a British biologist who first discovered this species in 1870 or 145 years ago.
Now the amphibians is called Frakixalus Jerdonii - taken from the name of amphibians and reptiles expert, Frank Bossuyt, a Biju's adviser when he studied in Belgium. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | BBC]
