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POPSThe Platypus Has No Stomach A strange fact learned via Carl Zimmer, who got it from the journal Genome Biology. The platypus genome was the subject of much fanfare recenty. (It's amazing how many organisms are getting sequenced lately -- P&G actually funded the sequencing of the organism that causes dandruff.) It turns out some key genes involved in the digestion are missing, and that this shouldn't be surprising because the platypus apparently lost its stomach somewhere along the evolutionary path that led it away from other mammals. It seems to be alone among vertebrates in this strange feat.
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POPSIn Honor of Gary Larson I have a theory that most people who like animals fall into one of two categories, based on the nature of their interest. The first are the Jane Goodall types, who enjoy animals for their peaceful habits, for their gentleness, for their intelligence, and whatnot. I can respect that. Then there are those of us who grew up reading Gary Larson's Far Side. We have a very...specialized interest in animals. This quote, relating to the Duck Billed Platypus and courtesy of www.cracked.com perfectly illustrates my philosophical interest in animals of the platypus's timber. It is small. It is seemingly made up of nature's spare parts. It is still, nonetheless, capable of crippling you. Have a nice day, bipeds.
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POPS'bizarre mix of mammal, bird and reptile, with very complex sexuality' The fact that the animal has five X and five Y chromosomes is "the weirdest thing about a very weird animal," said Ewan Birney, a co-author on the paper, based at the European Bioinformatics Institute, near Cambridge. "In theory it means there are 25 possible sexes, though in practice that doesn't happen."
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POPSThe Platypus We watched the Wonder Pets save the baby platypus this morning. My daughter asked me about the nest, since they lay eggs. In researching this, I discovered that the male platypus is venomous.
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POPSThe secret life of water rats. It has been discovered they can eat Cane toads safely, and seem to be immune to it's poison, but they do not have the numbers to dent the huge cane toad population. They also eat the crayfish that burrow into dam walls and weaken them, helping farmers.
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POPSTie Me Kangaroo Down Sport Tan me hide when I'm dead, Fred, tan me hide when I'm dead. So we tanned his hide when he died Clyde, (Spoken) And that's it hanging on the shed. Altogether now!
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