Blog About Animals

Image source: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~aherns/ahnws205.htm

Nobody likes me everybody hates me I think I’ll go and eat some worms.

My mum used to mockingly say this little saying to me when I was being a little annoying brat. I imagine she would have been very upset if I actually did eat some worms but I think, mortified if I ate one of these suckers.

I first heard about these amazing animals on a BBC or Channel 4 documentary that I watched and was fascinated. I couldn’t understand why I had never even heard of such a thing. Surely it is a school duty to teach children about the wonders of this world.

Obviously the creator of Tremors has heard of them and maybe even the creator of Beetlejuice. The idea of these giant creatures burrowing underneath our feet is kind of creepy and I am sure to many, utterly terrifying. Personally I love the idea of them churning up the soil and keeping things underground working as they should.

Ok, now the facts, including the important question… How big do they get?

Scientific name: Megascolides australis
Country / Region of origin: Australia, Gippsland in Victoria
Species: Earthworm
Weight and size: Now the bit you have been waiting for…. Average is around 80cm long with a 2cm diameter but it can grow up to an enormous 3meters.
(If you think anymore details should be here then just leave a comment and I will add find out and add it)

Australia has around 1000 types of earthworm and the Gippsland worm is the biggest of that kind with the biggest find being approx 4meters. It must be an absolutely haunting thought for many people! Sadly the minuscule little European counter part has been introduced and now rules the roost.

They have a dark purple head and a pinkish grey body and live burrows of around 2meters deep in moist clay areas either close to or under rivers and streams. They are only found in a small region of Gippsland, Victoria, Australia and sadly due to many factors their numbers are on the decline.

Apparently if you stomp the ground you can hear gurgling which is made when they slide off through their tunnels as quick smart as they can. The sound of their digging has also been compared to hearing a toilet flush! I don’t know this for sure but I would imagine that their disturbing of the earth is avery good thing for the environment and it would be ashame to lose these, in some peoples eyes (like mine!), beautiful creatures.

Conservation Status

Sadly these slippery critters are deemed vulnerable which means that they are threatened and numbers are rapidly declining.

Modern colonization and farming practices are taking a big toll, with herbicides and pesticides seeping into the soil and water being drained from the land. Herds of animals are disturbing their habitat and even being handled by a human could kill them. Even though they are Earthworms they don’t have the ability to be chopped into several pieces and survive. One cut on these poor things could lead to them bleeding to death.

The raunchy sex life of an average Gippsland Earthworm in an average Gippsland stream bank

They mate around Spring and Summer laying egg sacs approx 7cm long which take a year to hatch. Daddy’s super sperm means that they hatch out at a size of 20cm and are ready to dig themselves through mud for the rest of their lives.

The Museum!

If you are out today doing the shopping or going to get the car cleaned and you just so happen to pass by Gippsland in Australia then maybe you should stop by the town of Bass

Bass is the home of the Giant Gippsland Earthworm museum where you can go and find out pretty much everything about them.

My final words

Please don’t hate this animal because it’s basically a slimy worm of astronomical size. People don’t hate sharks that much anymore and they are still eating the occasional person here and there. I don’t think you will find any records of an earthworm munching on corpse felled by it’s gruesome slaughter tactics and they keep the soil alive. The fact that they are endangered and not many people know about them is sad. Obviously this is a plea for links too but it would be great if you could spread the word about this or any endangered animals that you hear about.

Sources, read these if you want to know more:
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~aherns/ahnws205.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Gippsland_earthworm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Gippsland_earthworm
http://museumvictoria.com.au/DiscoveryCentre/Infosheets/Giant-Gippsland-Earthworm/

If you have any suggestions for my next Animal of the Forest or you just fancy letting me know you stopped by, then please leave a comment. While you are at it why don’t you subscribe to my feed. Come on you know you want to!

If you have no idea about feeds then maybe this article will help.

I was just visiting my blogging friend Garry Conn and I sadly found out that a good blogging friend of his, an amazing woman, and animal lover has fallen very ill.

This is very sad and it is important that we come together as blogger and spread the word. Here is the post in full:

A Blogger We All Know And Adore Has Fallen Sick

Written by, Garry Conn on May 30th, 2008.

On April 16th, 2008 my good online friend, Brennan Kingsland, feel ill with acute kidney failure due to chronic kidney disease. This really isn’t a very good thing. For those that might have forgotten, the main function of the kidneys is to remove waste products and excess water from the blood. Kidney failure occurs when the kidneys partly or completely lose their ability to carry out normal functions. This is dangerous because water, waste, and toxic substances build up that normally are removed from the body by the kidneys.

Chronic kidney disease is when one suffers from gradual and usually permanent loss of kidney function over time. This happens gradually over time, usually months to years. Chronic kidney disease is divided into five stages of increasing severity:

I am unsure where Brennan is at with her battle for recovery, I know that she has been visiting her doctor very often as they have been attempting to treat her with medication. She has been updating me via email with progress updates and overall this has been a very touch and go situation for her. Unfortunately, just this morning, Brennan sent me a very brief email stating that things have started to go in the wrong direction again.

Brennan Kingsland is a determined woman who wants to improve education for our children. She loves animals and has owned and maintained a volunteer animal shelter for many years. She is a very free spirited, gifted and intelligent writer and publisher.

Brennan Kindsland is an amazing individual who values life. In fact, a little over 20 years ago when her best friend and loving husband suffered from a major heart attack, she immediately made a career change to be come a Critical Care Registered Nurse just so that she could make sure that her loving husband was going to be receiving the best care over the years. Quite a few years later and after things were going much better for her husband, she decided it was safe to go back to her career in publishing.

After witnessing how Brennan was willing to make major changes in her life just to help someone that she cared dearly about, today it is your turn. While I am not asking you to become a nurse or a doctor, I am asking that you provide a donation of money that will greatly support and help Brennan in a time of need.

For everyone who reads this announcement, please understand that any amount you are willing to donate will help and her in her journey towards having the best quality of life while enabling her to build strength to fight her illness. With your help, I have no doubt in my mind that Brennan Kingland will push through this challenging time in her life.

Please send a direct money donation safely and securely using www.paypal.com. Simply visit www.paypal.com, log into your account and send your money donation to: healthnet@wctel.net.

To help Brennann Kingland even further, please download a copy of this article and publish it on your blog or web site. Simply download and extract the zip file and copy the html code found on the text file and paste it on your blog.

As I type the Nasa Phoenix has finished traveling 85,000 miles per hour towards the surface of the planet Mars and confirmation has been received the the Mars Phoenix has just landed safely on the surface of the Red Planet! Now this is monumental…

However this article is not about the landing itself (more detailed info can be followed Nasa Mars Phoenix Lander Site). It is about what the Phoenix landing might change for us.

We have a good grasp of what we believe to be a life form or an animal. Anything we dream up in our heads is normally a mutated or Frankenstein’d version of what we already know. It is almost impossible for us to judge what a life on another planet may actually look and function like.

Part of the mission of the Nasa Mars Phoenix Lander will be to discover if Mars was ever suitable for life, if there has ever been life on Mars and if so, what was it?

Some scientists are already trying to get people ready for expecting life that we have never seen before and with the recent discovery of the Hottest Life Forms on earth the possibility that evidence of past life on Mars is ever growing.

A recent story from National Geographic talked about a life form that had been found a mile under the seafloor living in hot sediment. This is double the known depth for any life and also probably the hottest conditions that life has ever been found in. They are thriving in the 60 to 100 degrees Celsius sediment and it has been estimated that they could be 10 to 30 percent of the world’s total living matter. The life forms are said to be similar to previously discovered life forms that thrive around hot springs.

I believe that it is almost ignorant for us to discount life on other planets. I am not a religious person but respect religion and do not discount the notion of some higher being or energy. I also believe that they notion of other life fits in well and could be openly accepted by most religious people.

Merging science and religion and accepting that we are not alone leaves us only with the thoughts of what is sharing the universe?

Maybe soon our human fascination will be fueled again when Nasa discovers a small organism developed enough to be called an Animal, living under the icy Mars surface.

We can only hope !!

Will we find life?
If we do, what will it change?
Do you believe that we are alone?
What will the Aliens look like?

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Blog About Animals has reached it’s one month anniversary!

I think the picture shows you just how happy I am

I never expected the blog to do so well. Sadly I don’t get to spend all day on it but none the less the first months statistics have still been impressive.

At time of writing we have had:
Page Views: 3,020
Unique Visitors: 2043
Subscribers: Currently 27, this varies a little.

Now I think they are pretty impressive stats for the first month of any website so I just wanted to extend a big thank you to all of you readers.

We have seen things such as a dog in a tie, a thieving seagull, a pet saved by a TV show and recently the very sad story of the stingrays at Calgary zoo, just to name a few things.

The next month I hope to try and make sure I post almost daily and get many more entries for Bloggers’ Pets. Plus I will be offering sign up to a mailing list where you will be able to get exclusive content and deals on pet and animal products.

The advertising on the site needs to be looked into. I want to make money from this site so that I can dedicate more time to it.

I would like to ask you wonderful people a few questions to help me push this site forward.

What do you think of the current layout? Too much advertising, just right etc etc.

Where do you shop for pet / animal supplies, do you use online retailers?

What features would you like to see added to the site?

Would you prefer more picture / video based posts or more informative animal articles?

Anything else that you would like to add?

Thanks again, I look forward to seeing your comments, Forest.

Image source: http://www.party-photo-favors.com/dog_birthday_cake_recipes.htm

I heard some very sad news yesterday whilst reading CBC News. The hands on Cownose Stingray exhibit that opened in Calgary Zoo early on in the year has just witnessed a terrible mystery tragedy. 26 Stingrays died on Sunday followed by 8 on Monday and 1 on Tuesday, from an unexplained problem that led to inflamed gills and breathing trouble. The staff have been left baffled and extremely troubled by the incident. 9 surviving Stingrays are being very closely monitored by vets and they are all exhibiting signs of black and yellow blotches, similar to blotches found on the dead rays.

Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/loughgc/ 2282482267/

One distinction of the Stingray is the face that its created on it’s underbelly. It really makes them look like jolly creatures! Popular theory says that this face has developed to stop predators attacking the underbelly.

It is unknown what has caused the deaths but it is unlikely to be the food, water or disease according to experts. Many people feel that someone may have actually introduced a chemical into the water to cause such quick deaths. The investigation is being conducted and everyone hoped to have an answer in the next week or so. I think you will agree this is very sad.

Calgary Zoo has had a bad year with a Gorilla dying after one day in the zoo and a 6 year old hippo also dying. I am sure that this is bad luck and I think that the zoo is probably genuinely trying to conserve and help the natural world whilst providing us with education in an entertaining environment.

According to TheStar.com Toronto Zoo are still planning on opening their new hands on Stingray exhibit this Friday. I personally am a little nervous about the press they are going to get but they have discussed everything with Calgary and I am sure will be very vigilant.

Stingrays seem to be very social with humans, responding well to touch and interaction and I am sure that there is still place in the world for such exhibits, if managed and monitored correctly. This very sad tragedy will be a great lesson and hopefully will be used for further and, as it seems, much needed education.

More about Stingrays…

After the death of Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter, rays started getting a little more press. He was killed by a Stingray barb that struck right into his heart. Many agree that this was a freak accident and that generally swimming with rays is pretty safe, as long as you are respectful of them. In fact there have only been 17 recorded Stingray deaths worldwide since records started in 1969 (source: www.smh.com.au).

Wikipedia says that there are about 70 species of Stingray but I have seen variations of this with claims of their being up to 186 (If anyone knows the official amount please let me know). They are related to Sharks and Skate and bottom feed mainly on n mollusks, crustaceans, and sometimes small fish. Attacks on humans are always reactions to feeling threatened as this creatures are rearly aggressive and normally swim away from danger.

They look beautiful in the water, almost as if they are flying with what people commonly refer to as wings. In actual fact they are pectoral fins. They are known as Stingrays due to the poisonous barbs on the end of their tails which have been known to grow up to 37 cm in length. Some types of Stingray can grow up to 4.2 meters long and 1.8 meters wide. I think you will agree , that is monstrous!

Cownose Stingrays (like the ones from Calgary Zoo) are often found in the western Atlantic and Caribbean. They are very close to being threatened so we need Zoo’s to keep conserving them This makes the recent deaths even more horrific, especially if human induced. They also grow to around 1.1 meters long and feed mainly on clams, oysters and other invertebrates. They have a special plate designed for crushing hard shells in their mouths.

I have seen this stunning creatures in Aquariums as a child and have witnessed their cute curiosity and obvious intelligence. I really hope that Calgary Zoo work out the cause and create a new safe environment for the, hopefully, surviving rays. I will be writing an update as soon as their is anymore news so please subscribe to my RSS feed or by email in the box on the top right.

Recommended further reading:

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/national/080513/n051341A.html – CBC talks about the improvement of the surviving rays.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=
7af33ff4-921b-4cda-91d4-0d9fb76f3e10 – The Edmonton Journals take on the story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray – Wikipedia’s article on Stingrays.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cownose_ray – Wikipedia’s Cow Nose Stingray page.

I have been hearing recently that bed bugs are back on the scene and infestations are appearing in certain areas. I even worried that I had them….. I think the kitty cats just had fleas though, so now they are being treated.

I knew nothing about bed bugs, so thought I would do some research and pass my knowledge in a simple, easy form in regards to detection, preventing and treatment.

Firstly, What is a bed bug?

A mini version of the monster under the bed, these vampire creatures come out at night and suck your blood!

Bed Bugs are insects that have developed to live in human created conditions very well. Originally from caves and feeding on the blood of animals and our ancestors these scary buggers now live in our house. They get in through the smallest crevices, attracted to us by our carbon dioxide output, and settle in our beds and furniture. Most active at night they come out, inject us painlessly and fill themselves up with blood.

Bed Bugs Detection?

One of the first signs you may see is bites on your poor defenseless body. As you can see from the images below, bites can vary from very minor to very severe.

The look hard, to me, to distinguish from other bug bites. But it seems that generally they last longer than mosquito bites and can cause more itching. You pretty much have the privilege of getting the nasty bites exclusively at night and they sometimes come in clusters of three, like the first image.

They tend to hide in your bed or furniture nearby, although they can travel 100 feet for feeding! So if you are looking for them it’s suggested you check on the darkest nooks and crannies in your room and house. Pay particular attention to creases in mattresses and furniture, gaps in the bed posts and behind any uplifted wallpaper. They are very small and very shy of the light so can be hard to find.

Some places suggest checking your room with a flashlight an hour or so before dawn, when they are all fed, slow and most importantly awake.

Another good tip for detection involved setting a insect glue trap or using double sided carpet tape around your bed to catch themas they walk past. You should be able to identify if the trapped bug is a bed bug as there are plenty of pictures on the web.

Bed Bug Prevention

Prevention is key…. now if you are reading this from a search engine then you may think that you have them. Don’t worry, the treatment section is up next!

They can get into clothes and suitcases so if you are visiting a hotel, check your bed, headboard and the room carefully for bugs, especially before putting your cases down near the furniture. In your own home you just have to be vigilant. If you suspect any bed beg activity then investigate immediately and treat them before they become an infestation. Also if you hear of a problem in your local area then there are human safe sprays that you can get to stop them settling in your home. These sprays can also be used in your hotel room, luggage and clothes.

I have a coupon discount on one eco-friendly spray available on line at the end of this post.

Finally…. Bed Bug treatment

The use of DDT in North American pretty much eradicated bed bugs but many think it also eradicated many other things too, so it was banned. Since the banning of DDT bed beg treatment has been a more difficult job.

First up is cutting them off and washing all linen and night clothing in hot water to try and kill the eggs and any bugs contained in those areas. You can attempt to cut them off by moving your bed away from the wall, putting sticky carpet tape around the legs or, resting each leg on a plastic tray containing water. In some cases bugs can feed off and survive off other vermin, such as mice or household pets, so be careful about these situations.

You can also find mattress encasing products to stop them getting out. I would not spend the money until I was sure that was where they were.

You can also either rub Neem oil on surfaces and some of your clothes or a natural bed bug pesticide to spray almost everything and try and kill them off before an infestation comes.

These bugs are hard to kill so you may have to persist or go to extreme measures such as call in the Terminators to spray your home and possibly take away furniture for deep freezing.

I hope you found this article informative. It is by no means a complete guide as there is too much to tell about these critters in one article. I have provided a few more information resources at the very end of this post.

If you are looking to purchase bed bug products I suggest looking on ebay for Neem Oil or Bed Bugs to find a whole lot of products.

I also have a special discount code on K4 natural completely eco-friendly bed bug sprays. Simple enter the code Wanda20 during check out to receive a 20% discount of your next purchase.

Further sources:
Wikipedia Bed Bug Article
www.bed-bug.org/

I recently brought you a cute little story about a family of Ducks visiting a newsagents (store that sells newspapers and magazines for US readers!) in Somerset, England.

Whilst discussing this with a friend, I was tipped off about an old news story of a seagull visiting a shop on a regular basis with more sinister intentions.

Ok… the headline i a little over the top but this story amazed me.

Sam, as it has become known by, is a seagull in the Scottish town of Aberdeen. This feisty bird developed a habit of wondering into a small store and stealing a bag of it’s favorite tangy cheese Doritos before running off, opening the packet and sharing it with the other birds. If you think it’s too crazy to be true then check out the video evidence that I found on trusty YouTube.

Seagulls stealing is not new news to me. In England they are huge, much bigger than any Gull I have seen in Canada, and these mighty, confident birds can be very intimidating. I have heard tales such as one pecking a 5 year olds eye out whilst stealing fries or stealing whole fish off the end of fisherman’s lines and flying off with the hook still in their mouth.

A funny comedian called Lee Evans has a great skit about the ‘Great British Seagull’. If you have a spare ten minutes. you have to watch it (it’s not just about gulls and does contain some bad language!). You may recognise him from a few movies, but he is much better comedian.

An aging African penguin at the California Academy of Sciences has been experiencing the same problem that many old gentlemen go through. He is going bald!

Penguins rely on their waterproof feathers to keep warm so sadly this smart little man wasn’t taking the chance and was left on the side whilst his friends played around in the pool. Plus he had been being picked on by his supposed friends and had lost his alpha male status!

So what did the biologists do about it? They designed him a nice, dashing wet suit. Now he is back swimming and is not being picked on anymore. A happy ending all round.

I found this great little video on You Tube showing him in action.

This is a pet I have never heard of!

According to the BBC pygmy hedgehogs are are new pet craze in the UK. I must have left the UK before this started!

Until I saw this news story I had no idea what a pygmy hedgehog was, and apparently there is concern over it.

You can see the BBC video here: Concern over prickly pygmy pet

These very cute little animals are being bred purely for the purpose of owning as a pet. From some brief research they seem to hail from Africa (I will try and look inro their origin in a future article).

Animal Welfare groups such as the RSPCA are concerned that these high maintanced animals may become trendy and that normal un-trained people will not have the skills to give them the care they deserve.

The breeder in the video says she understands the concerns but I still feel that many people will buy these and, maybe not give them the care that they deserve.

Personally I think owners of high maintenance pets should be screened and registered. I used to own a bearded dragon and did not need to register but in my first few months of ownership I definitely, accidentally, mistreated the poor thing. In hindsight, I feel, I should have taken an online test or some kind of certification to make sure I knew how to look after it.

What do you think about this? Do you own an exotic pet?

Image source: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42632000/jpg/_42632611_8.jpg

Image source: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=144039&in_page_id=34

A friend sent me this story this morning and as it was duck related I thought it would be perfect to start the posting on this new blog.

Metro.co.uk reported that a small newsagents in Bridgwater, Somerset (South West England) were in for a shock when a family of ducks consisting of Mother and 14 ducklings waddled in to the store.

I looked out of the window and saw the ducks crossing the road at the ­pedestrian crossing,’ said ­Abbey Saunter, manager of Bridgwater News.

The Metro story then goes onto say how the ducks were huddled into the shop and Miss Saunter (The shop manager) called Animal Rescue volunteers who successfully released them back into the wild.

I found this little story very sweet but it does show our immediate tendency to completely humanize animals. I am sure the ducks had no idea what a newsagent is… and maybe some American readers don’t either (It’s a shop that sells magazines and newspapers). I am sure that these feathery friends were just curious but it would have been great if the mother piked up a magazine and waddled off down the road to the local bakery!

Do you find yourself over humanizing animals?