rainforest
laelaps | July 6, 2010
A normal giant gliding ant (left) and an infested ant (right). The red color of the gaster is not caused by a pigment, but thinning of the exoskeleton combined with the color of the nematode eggs. From Yanoviak et al, 2008.
In one of my favorite episodes of the animated TV show Futurama, the chief protagonist - delivery boy Philip J. Fry - becomes infested with worms after eating a dodgy egg-salad sandwich purchased from the restroom of an interstellar truck stop. Lucky for Fry, the parasites are beneficial - they repair his injuries and greatly enhance his cognitive abilities. ("Of all…
grrlscientist | December 31, 2009tags: Forest of Ecstasy: Vanguard, illegal drugs, safrole oil, ecstacy, XTC, X, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA, rainforest, Cardamom Mountains, Cambodia, conservation, endangered species, documentary, streaming video
Do you think that making and using illegal drugs are victimless crimes? Think again! Deep in a remote Cambodian rainforest, criminals are setting up illegal factories to produce safrole oil, the raw ingredient for the illegal Schedule I drug, ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine or MDMA). Adam Yamaguchi joins armed forest rangers on a search and destroy mission.
razib | August 2, 2009
Where is the rainforest above located? For the answer see below....
It's in Iran, the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests of Gilan province. Here's a precipitation map of Iran:
grrlscientist | March 9, 2008tags: pygmy hippopotamus, pygmy hippo, Hexaprotodon liberensis, zoology, endangered species, conservation
A rare pygmy hippopotamus, Hexaprotodon liberensis,
was thought to be extinct up until recently, after this image was
captured at night by a photo trap set up by researchers in a Liberian rainforest.
A team of zoologists set up a series of camera traps in a west African rainforest to determine whether the rare pygmy hippopotamus, Hexaprotodon liberensis, still survives, despite wars, habitat degradation and poaching in the area. After a three-day wait, they were pleasantly surprised…