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05 February 2015

Thursday

 

 

Lemur Leaf Frog

 

A highly threatened amphibian from Central America, the lemur leaf frog (Hylomantis lemur) has a remarkable ability to change colour depending on whether it is active or resting. When resting during the day, the slender lemur leaf frog is mostly bright green, speckled with small brown dots. Its hands, feet and flanks are yellow and its underparts are white. A thick black line surrounds each large, pale, pearly eye. The vertical pupils indicate the lemur leaf frog’s nocturnal lifestyle. When active during the night, the upperparts of the lemur leaf frog turn brown, thus providing excellent camouflage. Its eyes also turn dark grey.

 

The lemur leaf frog is mainly nocturnal, spending its resting hours curled up on leaves, perfectly camouflaged. At nightfall, its bright green colouration darkens to brown and the lemur leaf frog becomes active. An arboreal species, the lemur leaf frog walks around low vegetation in a deliberate, hand-over-hand manner. The diet of the lemur leaf frog in the wild is not known, but is assumed to consist primarily of small invertebrates.

 

Breeding reportedly takes place during the rainy season, and the male lemur leaf frog produces a short clicking call to advertise to females. Like all leaf frogs, the lemur leaf frog lays between 15 and 30 eggs on leaves overhanging water. However, while many leaf frogs then wrap the leaf around the cluster of eggs, the lemur leaf frog does not. About a week after the eggs have been a laid, the tadpoles hatch and drop into the water below. It then takes a further 90 to 150 days for the tadpole to develop into the adult frog. The higher the temperature of the water, the more rapid the growth and development of the tadpole will be.

 

Unusually for a frog, this diminutive species is able to bask in sunlight for prolonged periods of time without drying out. It is thought this is due to a specific pigment in the frog's skin, ‘pterorhodin’, which reflects the heat off its surface. This enables the frog to stay cool while its skin stays hot.

 

 

What a cute little frog. So tiny. I love the facial expression.

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06 February 2015

 

FLORA FRIDAY

 

 

Opium Poppy

 

 

The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is an annual herb native to Southeastern Europe and western Asia. The species is cultivated extensively in many countries, including Iran, Turkey, Holland, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, India, Canada, and many Asian and Central and South American countries. Reaching a height of 1.2 meters, the erect plant can have white, pink, red, or purple flowers. Seeds range in color from white to a slate shade that is called blue in commercial classifications. The plants grow best in rich, moist soil and tend to be frost sensitive.

 

A latex containing several important alkaloids is obtained from immature seed capsules one to three weeks after flowering. Incisions are made in the walls of the green seed pods, and the milky exudation is collected and dried. Opium and the isoquinoline alkaloids morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine are isolated from the dried material. The poppy seeds and fixed oil that can be expressed from the seed are not narcotic, because they develop after the capsule has lost the opium-yielding potential. Total yield of alkaloids is dependent on light, temperature, the plant variety, and the time of harvest.

 

Poppy seeds are used as a condiment with baked goods and pastries for their nutty odor and flavor. Poppy oil is widely used as an edible cooking oil. The oil is also used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps. Opium is used in the production of morphine, codeine, other alkaloids, and deodorized forms of opium. Morphine is the raw material from which heroin is obtained. Poppy plants are important as ornamental plants in flower gardens.

 

Poppy is one of the most important medicinal plants. Traditionally, the dry opium was considered an astringent, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypnotic, narcotic, and sedative. Poppy has been used against toothaches and coughs. The ability of opium from poppy to serve as an analgesic is well known. Opium and derivatives of opium are used in the pharmaceutical industry as narcotic analgesics, hypnotics, and sedatives. These compounds are also used as antidiarrheals, antispasmodics, and antitussives. Opium and the drugs derived from opium are addictive and can have toxicological effects.

 

The poppy has had a tremendous impact on several societies as an opiate. Currently, there is interest in developing a poppy plant rich in thebaine and low in morphine, as the former could be converted to codeine and other legal pharmaceutical products with less morphine available for illegal conversion into heroin.

 

 

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06 February 2015

 

FLORA FRIDAY

 

 

Opium Poppy

 

 

The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is an annual herb native to Southeastern Europe and western Asia. The species is cultivated extensively in many countries, including Iran, Turkey, Holland, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, India, Canada, and many Asian and Central and South American countries. Reaching a height of 1.2 meters, the erect plant can have white, pink, red, or purple flowers. Seeds range in color from white to a slate shade that is called blue in commercial classifications. The plants grow best in rich, moist soil and tend to be frost sensitive.

 

A latex containing several important alkaloids is obtained from immature seed capsules one to three weeks after flowering. Incisions are made in the walls of the green seed pods, and the milky exudation is collected and dried. Opium and the isoquinoline alkaloids morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine are isolated from the dried material. The poppy seeds and fixed oil that can be expressed from the seed are not narcotic, because they develop after the capsule has lost the opium-yielding potential. Total yield of alkaloids is dependent on light, temperature, the plant variety, and the time of harvest.

 

Poppy seeds are used as a condiment with baked goods and pastries for their nutty odor and flavor. Poppy oil is widely used as an edible cooking oil. The oil is also used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps. Opium is used in the production of morphine, codeine, other alkaloids, and deodorized forms of opium. Morphine is the raw material from which heroin is obtained. Poppy plants are important as ornamental plants in flower gardens.

 

Poppy is one of the most important medicinal plants. Traditionally, the dry opium was considered an astringent, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypnotic, narcotic, and sedative. Poppy has been used against toothaches and coughs. The ability of opium from poppy to serve as an analgesic is well known. Opium and derivatives of opium are used in the pharmaceutical industry as narcotic analgesics, hypnotics, and sedatives. These compounds are also used as antidiarrheals, antispasmodics, and antitussives. Opium and the drugs derived from opium are addictive and can have toxicological effects.

 

The poppy has had a tremendous impact on several societies as an opiate. Currently, there is interest in developing a poppy plant rich in thebaine and low in morphine, as the former could be converted to codeine and other legal pharmaceutical products with less morphine available for illegal conversion into heroin.

 

 

They have so many uses, and they look fantastic when you see a field full of them.

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06 February 2015

 

FLORA FRIDAY

 

 

Opium Poppy

 

 

The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is an annual herb native to Southeastern Europe and western Asia. The species is cultivated extensively in many countries, including Iran, Turkey, Holland, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, India, Canada, and many Asian and Central and South American countries. Reaching a height of 1.2 meters, the erect plant can have white, pink, red, or purple flowers. Seeds range in color from white to a slate shade that is called blue in commercial classifications. The plants grow best in rich, moist soil and tend to be frost sensitive.

 

A latex containing several important alkaloids is obtained from immature seed capsules one to three weeks after flowering. Incisions are made in the walls of the green seed pods, and the milky exudation is collected and dried. Opium and the isoquinoline alkaloids morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine are isolated from the dried material. The poppy seeds and fixed oil that can be expressed from the seed are not narcotic, because they develop after the capsule has lost the opium-yielding potential. Total yield of alkaloids is dependent on light, temperature, the plant variety, and the time of harvest.

 

Poppy seeds are used as a condiment with baked goods and pastries for their nutty odor and flavor. Poppy oil is widely used as an edible cooking oil. The oil is also used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps. Opium is used in the production of morphine, codeine, other alkaloids, and deodorized forms of opium. Morphine is the raw material from which heroin is obtained. Poppy plants are important as ornamental plants in flower gardens.

 

Poppy is one of the most important medicinal plants. Traditionally, the dry opium was considered an astringent, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypnotic, narcotic, and sedative. Poppy has been used against toothaches and coughs. The ability of opium from poppy to serve as an analgesic is well known. Opium and derivatives of opium are used in the pharmaceutical industry as narcotic analgesics, hypnotics, and sedatives. These compounds are also used as antidiarrheals, antispasmodics, and antitussives. Opium and the drugs derived from opium are addictive and can have toxicological effects.

 

The poppy has had a tremendous impact on several societies as an opiate. Currently, there is interest in developing a poppy plant rich in thebaine and low in morphine, as the former could be converted to codeine and other legal pharmaceutical products with less morphine available for illegal conversion into heroin.

 

 

They have so many uses, and they look fantastic when you see a field full of them.

 

I remember seeing a load of the lilac colored ones growing wild. They were pretty. :)

 

Hang on... You mean, they're the ones that get turned into heroin? :o

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06 February 2015

 

FLORA FRIDAY

 

 

Opium Poppy

 

 

The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is an annual herb native to Southeastern Europe and western Asia. The species is cultivated extensively in many countries, including Iran, Turkey, Holland, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, India, Canada, and many Asian and Central and South American countries. Reaching a height of 1.2 meters, the erect plant can have white, pink, red, or purple flowers. Seeds range in color from white to a slate shade that is called blue in commercial classifications. The plants grow best in rich, moist soil and tend to be frost sensitive.

 

A latex containing several important alkaloids is obtained from immature seed capsules one to three weeks after flowering. Incisions are made in the walls of the green seed pods, and the milky exudation is collected and dried. Opium and the isoquinoline alkaloids morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine are isolated from the dried material. The poppy seeds and fixed oil that can be expressed from the seed are not narcotic, because they develop after the capsule has lost the opium-yielding potential. Total yield of alkaloids is dependent on light, temperature, the plant variety, and the time of harvest.

 

Poppy seeds are used as a condiment with baked goods and pastries for their nutty odor and flavor. Poppy oil is widely used as an edible cooking oil. The oil is also used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps. Opium is used in the production of morphine, codeine, other alkaloids, and deodorized forms of opium. Morphine is the raw material from which heroin is obtained. Poppy plants are important as ornamental plants in flower gardens.

 

Poppy is one of the most important medicinal plants. Traditionally, the dry opium was considered an astringent, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypnotic, narcotic, and sedative. Poppy has been used against toothaches and coughs. The ability of opium from poppy to serve as an analgesic is well known. Opium and derivatives of opium are used in the pharmaceutical industry as narcotic analgesics, hypnotics, and sedatives. These compounds are also used as antidiarrheals, antispasmodics, and antitussives. Opium and the drugs derived from opium are addictive and can have toxicological effects.

 

The poppy has had a tremendous impact on several societies as an opiate. Currently, there is interest in developing a poppy plant rich in thebaine and low in morphine, as the former could be converted to codeine and other legal pharmaceutical products with less morphine available for illegal conversion into heroin.

 

 

They have so many uses, and they look fantastic when you see a field full of them.

 

I remember seeing a load of the lilac colored ones growing wild. They were pretty. :)

 

Hang on... You mean, they're the ones that get turned into heroin? :o

 

Yep, that's the dreaded opium poppy; they come in all sorts of colourful varieties. It's illegal to grow them here, but not in the UK.

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07 February 2015

 

Paleontology Saturday

 

 

Woolly Mammoth

 

The woolly mammoth was an enormous mammal that once roamed the vast, frozen northern landscapes. Believed to be closely related to the modern-day elephant, the woolly mammoth remained in the wild until roughly 1700 BC, when it became extinct.

 

The woolly mammoth was found roaming the bitter Arctic tundra where they would often gather in large herds for both warmth and protection. Woolly mammoths lived in two groups, which are thought to have been different enough to be characterized as separate subspecies. One woolly mammoth group stayed in the middle of the high Arctic, while the other woolly mammoth group had a much wider range. The woolly mammoth was an enormous animal, with adults often reaching heights of four meters or more.

 

As elephants do today, the woolly mammoth had enormous tusks which would have been used for both digging and collecting food, and for intimidating and fighting off both predators and rivals. The tusks of the woolly mammoth were often quite dramatically curved and could easily be up to 5 meters (16ft) long.

 

Like the African and Asian elephants still found today, the woolly mammoth was herbivorous, and survived on a purely plant-based diet. Woolly mammoths would have eaten similar vegetation to modern-day elephants, browsing for leaves, fruits, nuts, twigs and berries.

 

Due to the sheer size of the woolly mammoth, it had only one real predator in its natural environment, which was the sabre-toothed cat that would often hunt the smaller woolly mammoth calves. Other than human hunters that quickly wiped out the woolly mammoth populations in vast areas of the Arctic tundra, the rapidly melting ice had an enormous impact on their demise.

 

It was generally assumed that the last woolly mammoths vanished from Europe and southern Siberia in around 8,000 BC, with the last of the isolated woolly mammoth populations vanishing from Wrangel Island, located in the Arctic Ocean in around 1700 BC.

 

 

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06 February 2015

 

FLORA FRIDAY

 

 

Opium Poppy

 

 

The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is an annual herb native to Southeastern Europe and western Asia. The species is cultivated extensively in many countries, including Iran, Turkey, Holland, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, India, Canada, and many Asian and Central and South American countries. Reaching a height of 1.2 meters, the erect plant can have white, pink, red, or purple flowers. Seeds range in color from white to a slate shade that is called blue in commercial classifications. The plants grow best in rich, moist soil and tend to be frost sensitive.

 

A latex containing several important alkaloids is obtained from immature seed capsules one to three weeks after flowering. Incisions are made in the walls of the green seed pods, and the milky exudation is collected and dried. Opium and the isoquinoline alkaloids morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine are isolated from the dried material. The poppy seeds and fixed oil that can be expressed from the seed are not narcotic, because they develop after the capsule has lost the opium-yielding potential. Total yield of alkaloids is dependent on light, temperature, the plant variety, and the time of harvest.

 

Poppy seeds are used as a condiment with baked goods and pastries for their nutty odor and flavor. Poppy oil is widely used as an edible cooking oil. The oil is also used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps. Opium is used in the production of morphine, codeine, other alkaloids, and deodorized forms of opium. Morphine is the raw material from which heroin is obtained. Poppy plants are important as ornamental plants in flower gardens.

 

Poppy is one of the most important medicinal plants. Traditionally, the dry opium was considered an astringent, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypnotic, narcotic, and sedative. Poppy has been used against toothaches and coughs. The ability of opium from poppy to serve as an analgesic is well known. Opium and derivatives of opium are used in the pharmaceutical industry as narcotic analgesics, hypnotics, and sedatives. These compounds are also used as antidiarrheals, antispasmodics, and antitussives. Opium and the drugs derived from opium are addictive and can have toxicological effects.

 

The poppy has had a tremendous impact on several societies as an opiate. Currently, there is interest in developing a poppy plant rich in thebaine and low in morphine, as the former could be converted to codeine and other legal pharmaceutical products with less morphine available for illegal conversion into heroin.

 

 

They have so many uses, and they look fantastic when you see a field full of them.

 

I remember seeing a load of the lilac colored ones growing wild. They were pretty. :)

 

Hang on... You mean, they're the ones that get turned into heroin? :o

 

Yep, that's the dreaded opium poppy; they come in all sorts of colourful varieties. It's illegal to grow them here, but not in the UK.

 

I haven't seen a lot of them since, but there were so many back in the 1980s. It also seems to go back to 1914, from WW1.

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07 February 2015

 

Paleontology Saturday

 

 

Woolly Mammoth

 

The woolly mammoth was an enormous mammal that once roamed the vast, frozen northern landscapes. Believed to be closely related to the modern-day elephant, the woolly mammoth remained in the wild until roughly 1700 BC, when it became extinct.

 

The woolly mammoth was found roaming the bitter Arctic tundra where they would often gather in large herds for both warmth and protection. Woolly mammoths lived in two groups, which are thought to have been different enough to be characterized as separate subspecies. One woolly mammoth group stayed in the middle of the high Arctic, while the other woolly mammoth group had a much wider range. The woolly mammoth was an enormous animal, with adults often reaching heights of four meters or more.

 

As elephants do today, the woolly mammoth had enormous tusks which would have been used for both digging and collecting food, and for intimidating and fighting off both predators and rivals. The tusks of the woolly mammoth were often quite dramatically curved and could easily be up to 5 meters (16ft) long.

 

Like the African and Asian elephants still found today, the woolly mammoth was herbivorous, and survived on a purely plant-based diet. Woolly mammoths would have eaten similar vegetation to modern-day elephants, browsing for leaves, fruits, nuts, twigs and berries.

 

Due to the sheer size of the woolly mammoth, it had only one real predator in its natural environment, which was the sabre-toothed cat that would often hunt the smaller woolly mammoth calves. Other than human hunters that quickly wiped out the woolly mammoth populations in vast areas of the Arctic tundra, the rapidly melting ice had an enormous impact on their demise.

 

It was generally assumed that the last woolly mammoths vanished from Europe and southern Siberia in around 8,000 BC, with the last of the isolated woolly mammoth populations vanishing from Wrangel Island, located in the Arctic Ocean in around 1700 BC.

 

 

 

Those are impressive animals!

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06 February 2015

 

FLORA FRIDAY

 

 

Opium Poppy

 

 

The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is an annual herb native to Southeastern Europe and western Asia. The species is cultivated extensively in many countries, including Iran, Turkey, Holland, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, India, Canada, and many Asian and Central and South American countries. Reaching a height of 1.2 meters, the erect plant can have white, pink, red, or purple flowers. Seeds range in color from white to a slate shade that is called blue in commercial classifications. The plants grow best in rich, moist soil and tend to be frost sensitive.

 

A latex containing several important alkaloids is obtained from immature seed capsules one to three weeks after flowering. Incisions are made in the walls of the green seed pods, and the milky exudation is collected and dried. Opium and the isoquinoline alkaloids morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine are isolated from the dried material. The poppy seeds and fixed oil that can be expressed from the seed are not narcotic, because they develop after the capsule has lost the opium-yielding potential. Total yield of alkaloids is dependent on light, temperature, the plant variety, and the time of harvest.

 

Poppy seeds are used as a condiment with baked goods and pastries for their nutty odor and flavor. Poppy oil is widely used as an edible cooking oil. The oil is also used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps. Opium is used in the production of morphine, codeine, other alkaloids, and deodorized forms of opium. Morphine is the raw material from which heroin is obtained. Poppy plants are important as ornamental plants in flower gardens.

 

Poppy is one of the most important medicinal plants. Traditionally, the dry opium was considered an astringent, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypnotic, narcotic, and sedative. Poppy has been used against toothaches and coughs. The ability of opium from poppy to serve as an analgesic is well known. Opium and derivatives of opium are used in the pharmaceutical industry as narcotic analgesics, hypnotics, and sedatives. These compounds are also used as antidiarrheals, antispasmodics, and antitussives. Opium and the drugs derived from opium are addictive and can have toxicological effects.

 

The poppy has had a tremendous impact on several societies as an opiate. Currently, there is interest in developing a poppy plant rich in thebaine and low in morphine, as the former could be converted to codeine and other legal pharmaceutical products with less morphine available for illegal conversion into heroin.

 

 

They have so many uses, and they look fantastic when you see a field full of them.

 

I remember seeing a load of the lilac colored ones growing wild. They were pretty. :)

 

Hang on... You mean, they're the ones that get turned into heroin? :o

 

Yep, that's the dreaded opium poppy; they come in all sorts of colourful varieties. It's illegal to grow them here, but not in the UK.

 

I haven't seen a lot of them since, but there were so many back in the 1980s. It also seems to go back to 1914, from WW1.

 

Isn't the red poppy the symbol of Remembrance Day?

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07 February 2015

 

Paleontology Saturday

 

 

Woolly Mammoth

 

The woolly mammoth was an enormous mammal that once roamed the vast, frozen northern landscapes. Believed to be closely related to the modern-day elephant, the woolly mammoth remained in the wild until roughly 1700 BC, when it became extinct.

 

The woolly mammoth was found roaming the bitter Arctic tundra where they would often gather in large herds for both warmth and protection. Woolly mammoths lived in two groups, which are thought to have been different enough to be characterized as separate subspecies. One woolly mammoth group stayed in the middle of the high Arctic, while the other woolly mammoth group had a much wider range. The woolly mammoth was an enormous animal, with adults often reaching heights of four meters or more.

 

As elephants do today, the woolly mammoth had enormous tusks which would have been used for both digging and collecting food, and for intimidating and fighting off both predators and rivals. The tusks of the woolly mammoth were often quite dramatically curved and could easily be up to 5 meters (16ft) long.

 

Like the African and Asian elephants still found today, the woolly mammoth was herbivorous, and survived on a purely plant-based diet. Woolly mammoths would have eaten similar vegetation to modern-day elephants, browsing for leaves, fruits, nuts, twigs and berries.

 

Due to the sheer size of the woolly mammoth, it had only one real predator in its natural environment, which was the sabre-toothed cat that would often hunt the smaller woolly mammoth calves. Other than human hunters that quickly wiped out the woolly mammoth populations in vast areas of the Arctic tundra, the rapidly melting ice had an enormous impact on their demise.

 

It was generally assumed that the last woolly mammoths vanished from Europe and southern Siberia in around 8,000 BC, with the last of the isolated woolly mammoth populations vanishing from Wrangel Island, located in the Arctic Ocean in around 1700 BC.

 

 

Awesome photo, SWS! :clap:

 

:hi: Been away, but now I'm not. :hi:

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07 February 2015

 

Paleontology Saturday

 

 

Woolly Mammoth

 

The woolly mammoth was an enormous mammal that once roamed the vast, frozen northern landscapes. Believed to be closely related to the modern-day elephant, the woolly mammoth remained in the wild until roughly 1700 BC, when it became extinct.

 

The woolly mammoth was found roaming the bitter Arctic tundra where they would often gather in large herds for both warmth and protection. Woolly mammoths lived in two groups, which are thought to have been different enough to be characterized as separate subspecies. One woolly mammoth group stayed in the middle of the high Arctic, while the other woolly mammoth group had a much wider range. The woolly mammoth was an enormous animal, with adults often reaching heights of four meters or more.

 

As elephants do today, the woolly mammoth had enormous tusks which would have been used for both digging and collecting food, and for intimidating and fighting off both predators and rivals. The tusks of the woolly mammoth were often quite dramatically curved and could easily be up to 5 meters (16ft) long.

 

Like the African and Asian elephants still found today, the woolly mammoth was herbivorous, and survived on a purely plant-based diet. Woolly mammoths would have eaten similar vegetation to modern-day elephants, browsing for leaves, fruits, nuts, twigs and berries.

 

Due to the sheer size of the woolly mammoth, it had only one real predator in its natural environment, which was the sabre-toothed cat that would often hunt the smaller woolly mammoth calves. Other than human hunters that quickly wiped out the woolly mammoth populations in vast areas of the Arctic tundra, the rapidly melting ice had an enormous impact on their demise.

 

It was generally assumed that the last woolly mammoths vanished from Europe and southern Siberia in around 8,000 BC, with the last of the isolated woolly mammoth populations vanishing from Wrangel Island, located in the Arctic Ocean in around 1700 BC.

 

 

Now, there's one prehistoric animal that I wish was still around :yes:

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07 February 2015

 

Paleontology Saturday

 

 

Woolly Mammoth

 

The woolly mammoth was an enormous mammal that once roamed the vast, frozen northern landscapes. Believed to be closely related to the modern-day elephant, the woolly mammoth remained in the wild until roughly 1700 BC, when it became extinct.

 

The woolly mammoth was found roaming the bitter Arctic tundra where they would often gather in large herds for both warmth and protection. Woolly mammoths lived in two groups, which are thought to have been different enough to be characterized as separate subspecies. One woolly mammoth group stayed in the middle of the high Arctic, while the other woolly mammoth group had a much wider range. The woolly mammoth was an enormous animal, with adults often reaching heights of four meters or more.

 

As elephants do today, the woolly mammoth had enormous tusks which would have been used for both digging and collecting food, and for intimidating and fighting off both predators and rivals. The tusks of the woolly mammoth were often quite dramatically curved and could easily be up to 5 meters (16ft) long.

 

Like the African and Asian elephants still found today, the woolly mammoth was herbivorous, and survived on a purely plant-based diet. Woolly mammoths would have eaten similar vegetation to modern-day elephants, browsing for leaves, fruits, nuts, twigs and berries.

 

Due to the sheer size of the woolly mammoth, it had only one real predator in its natural environment, which was the sabre-toothed cat that would often hunt the smaller woolly mammoth calves. Other than human hunters that quickly wiped out the woolly mammoth populations in vast areas of the Arctic tundra, the rapidly melting ice had an enormous impact on their demise.

 

It was generally assumed that the last woolly mammoths vanished from Europe and southern Siberia in around 8,000 BC, with the last of the isolated woolly mammoth populations vanishing from Wrangel Island, located in the Arctic Ocean in around 1700 BC.

 

 

Awesome photo, SWS! :clap:

 

:hi: Been away, but now I'm not. :hi:

 

Welcome back, CG :hi:

 

http://www.theomegasector.com/public/style_emoticons/default/cylon.gif

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08 February 2015

Sunday

 

 

Bee Hummingbird

 

Found only in Cuba, the diminutive bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) has the incredible accolade of being the smallest living bird in the world. The male bee hummingbird exhibits extravagant breeding plumage, with iridescent, fiery red-pink feathers on the head and throat, which are elongated around the neck. The rest of the upperparts are bluish-green, and the underside is white-grey, with blue spots on the wing tips and black-tipped tail feathers. The female bee hummingbird is slightly larger than the male, with green upperparts and white tips to the tail feathers, and without the iridescent plumage.

 

Despite its tiny size, the bee hummingbird is capable of beating its wings around 80 times a second in a figure-of-eight pattern, giving it the ability to hover and move with astonishing agility. During its intricate courtship display, the number of wing beats can increase to an almost unbelievable 200 times a second. The breeding season is typically between March and June, and the female bee hummingbird constructs a tiny cup-shaped nest out of thin twigs, held together by cobwebs and lichens. The female then lays a clutch of 2 tiny eggs, no bigger than 6 millimetres in length, which are incubated for around 22 days. The new chicks are fed and cared for solely by the female, until leaving the nest after 18 days.

 

The bee hummingbird preferentially feeds on nectar, which it obtains from a wide variety of plant species by inserting its bill into the flower of the plant while hovering horizontally above it. It will also eat small insects. Because the bee hummingbird is so small, it must consume a large amount to meet its very high energy demands, typically ingesting up to half its body mass in food each day, and up to eight times its body mass in water.

 

 

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08 February 2015

Sunday

 

 

Bee Hummingbird

 

Found only in Cuba, the diminutive bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) has the incredible accolade of being the smallest living bird in the world. The male bee hummingbird exhibits extravagant breeding plumage, with iridescent, fiery red-pink feathers on the head and throat, which are elongated around the neck. The rest of the upperparts are bluish-green, and the underside is white-grey, with blue spots on the wing tips and black-tipped tail feathers. The female bee hummingbird is slightly larger than the male, with green upperparts and white tips to the tail feathers, and without the iridescent plumage.

 

Despite its tiny size, the bee hummingbird is capable of beating its wings around 80 times a second in a figure-of-eight pattern, giving it the ability to hover and move with astonishing agility. During its intricate courtship display, the number of wing beats can increase to an almost unbelievable 200 times a second. The breeding season is typically between March and June, and the female bee hummingbird constructs a tiny cup-shaped nest out of thin twigs, held together by cobwebs and lichens. The female then lays a clutch of 2 tiny eggs, no bigger than 6 millimetres in length, which are incubated for around 22 days. The new chicks are fed and cared for solely by the female, until leaving the nest after 18 days.

 

The bee hummingbird preferentially feeds on nectar, which it obtains from a wide variety of plant species by inserting its bill into the flower of the plant while hovering horizontally above it. It will also eat small insects. Because the bee hummingbird is so small, it must consume a large amount to meet its very high energy demands, typically ingesting up to half its body mass in food each day, and up to eight times its body mass in water.

 

 

Wow! That's a tiny bird. So cute

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06 February 2015

 

FLORA FRIDAY

 

 

Opium Poppy

 

 

The Opium Poppy, Papaver somniferum, is an annual herb native to Southeastern Europe and western Asia. The species is cultivated extensively in many countries, including Iran, Turkey, Holland, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, India, Canada, and many Asian and Central and South American countries. Reaching a height of 1.2 meters, the erect plant can have white, pink, red, or purple flowers. Seeds range in color from white to a slate shade that is called blue in commercial classifications. The plants grow best in rich, moist soil and tend to be frost sensitive.

 

A latex containing several important alkaloids is obtained from immature seed capsules one to three weeks after flowering. Incisions are made in the walls of the green seed pods, and the milky exudation is collected and dried. Opium and the isoquinoline alkaloids morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine are isolated from the dried material. The poppy seeds and fixed oil that can be expressed from the seed are not narcotic, because they develop after the capsule has lost the opium-yielding potential. Total yield of alkaloids is dependent on light, temperature, the plant variety, and the time of harvest.

 

Poppy seeds are used as a condiment with baked goods and pastries for their nutty odor and flavor. Poppy oil is widely used as an edible cooking oil. The oil is also used in the manufacture of paints, varnishes, and soaps. Opium is used in the production of morphine, codeine, other alkaloids, and deodorized forms of opium. Morphine is the raw material from which heroin is obtained. Poppy plants are important as ornamental plants in flower gardens.

 

Poppy is one of the most important medicinal plants. Traditionally, the dry opium was considered an astringent, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypnotic, narcotic, and sedative. Poppy has been used against toothaches and coughs. The ability of opium from poppy to serve as an analgesic is well known. Opium and derivatives of opium are used in the pharmaceutical industry as narcotic analgesics, hypnotics, and sedatives. These compounds are also used as antidiarrheals, antispasmodics, and antitussives. Opium and the drugs derived from opium are addictive and can have toxicological effects.

 

The poppy has had a tremendous impact on several societies as an opiate. Currently, there is interest in developing a poppy plant rich in thebaine and low in morphine, as the former could be converted to codeine and other legal pharmaceutical products with less morphine available for illegal conversion into heroin.

 

 

They have so many uses, and they look fantastic when you see a field full of them.

 

I remember seeing a load of the lilac colored ones growing wild. They were pretty. :)

 

Hang on... You mean, they're the ones that get turned into heroin? :o

 

Yep, that's the dreaded opium poppy; they come in all sorts of colourful varieties. It's illegal to grow them here, but not in the UK.

 

I haven't seen a lot of them since, but there were so many back in the 1980s. It also seems to go back to 1914, from WW1.

 

Isn't the red poppy the symbol of Remembrance Day?

 

Yes, it is.

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08 February 2015

Sunday

 

 

Bee Hummingbird

 

Found only in Cuba, the diminutive bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae) has the incredible accolade of being the smallest living bird in the world. The male bee hummingbird exhibits extravagant breeding plumage, with iridescent, fiery red-pink feathers on the head and throat, which are elongated around the neck. The rest of the upperparts are bluish-green, and the underside is white-grey, with blue spots on the wing tips and black-tipped tail feathers. The female bee hummingbird is slightly larger than the male, with green upperparts and white tips to the tail feathers, and without the iridescent plumage.

 

Despite its tiny size, the bee hummingbird is capable of beating its wings around 80 times a second in a figure-of-eight pattern, giving it the ability to hover and move with astonishing agility. During its intricate courtship display, the number of wing beats can increase to an almost unbelievable 200 times a second. The breeding season is typically between March and June, and the female bee hummingbird constructs a tiny cup-shaped nest out of thin twigs, held together by cobwebs and lichens. The female then lays a clutch of 2 tiny eggs, no bigger than 6 millimetres in length, which are incubated for around 22 days. The new chicks are fed and cared for solely by the female, until leaving the nest after 18 days.

 

The bee hummingbird preferentially feeds on nectar, which it obtains from a wide variety of plant species by inserting its bill into the flower of the plant while hovering horizontally above it. It will also eat small insects. Because the bee hummingbird is so small, it must consume a large amount to meet its very high energy demands, typically ingesting up to half its body mass in food each day, and up to eight times its body mass in water.

 

 

 

Such a gorgeous little bird! :heart:

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09 February 2015

Monday

 

 

Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly

 

With an enormous wingspan of up to 28 centimetres, Queen Alexandra’s birdwing is the world’s largest butterfly. Vibrantly coloured, this magnificent butterfly displays marked sexual dimorphism. The attractive male has blue-green iridescent streaks across the largely black wings, with a scattering of contrasting yellow spots. The larger female is somewhat duller, with a brown colour across the wings and yellow blotches on the tips. On both sexes, the head and thorax is black and the abdomen is a striking yellow. Like the adult, the caterpillar of Queen Alexandra’s birdwing is conspicuously coloured, with a dark, wine-red body, numerous contrasting bright red spines, and two large, yellow central spines. During metamorphosis, this butterfly forms a light brown, ground-coloured chrysalis.

.

A monophagous species, Queen Alexandra’s birdwing feeds only from the vine species Aristolochia schlechteri. This vine also plays a central role in reproduction, as the butterfly lays a single egg on the underside of one of the leaves. After some 11 to 13 days the caterpillar hatches and eats almost constantly, rapidly increasing in size. The vine contains a toxic substance which, although not poisonous to the caterpillar, makes the caterpillar distasteful to potential predators. This trait is advertised by the caterpillar’s bright, conspicuous colouration, but if consumed by a naive predator, the toxin may cause severe vomiting. The caterpillar’s rapid growth is accompanied by six moults, in which the caterpillar grows new skin and sheds the former, before forming a chrysalis, in which metamorphosis takes place over a period of some 40 to 45 days. Once emerged, the adult butterfly remains dependent upon the same vine, feeding from its flowers with an elongated proboscis.

 

Endemic to northern Papua New Guinea, east of the Owen Stanley Mountains, Queen Alexandra’s birdwing has an extremely small range.

 

 

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09 February 2015

Monday

 

 

Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly

 

With an enormous wingspan of up to 28 centimetres, Queen Alexandra’s birdwing is the world’s largest butterfly. Vibrantly coloured, this magnificent butterfly displays marked sexual dimorphism. The attractive male has blue-green iridescent streaks across the largely black wings, with a scattering of contrasting yellow spots. The larger female is somewhat duller, with a brown colour across the wings and yellow blotches on the tips. On both sexes, the head and thorax is black and the abdomen is a striking yellow. Like the adult, the caterpillar of Queen Alexandra’s birdwing is conspicuously coloured, with a dark, wine-red body, numerous contrasting bright red spines, and two large, yellow central spines. During metamorphosis, this butterfly forms a light brown, ground-coloured chrysalis.

.

A monophagous species, Queen Alexandra’s birdwing feeds only from the vine species Aristolochia schlechteri. This vine also plays a central role in reproduction, as the butterfly lays a single egg on the underside of one of the leaves. After some 11 to 13 days the caterpillar hatches and eats almost constantly, rapidly increasing in size. The vine contains a toxic substance which, although not poisonous to the caterpillar, makes the caterpillar distasteful to potential predators. This trait is advertised by the caterpillar’s bright, conspicuous colouration, but if consumed by a naive predator, the toxin may cause severe vomiting. The caterpillar’s rapid growth is accompanied by six moults, in which the caterpillar grows new skin and sheds the former, before forming a chrysalis, in which metamorphosis takes place over a period of some 40 to 45 days. Once emerged, the adult butterfly remains dependent upon the same vine, feeding from its flowers with an elongated proboscis.

 

Endemic to northern Papua New Guinea, east of the Owen Stanley Mountains, Queen Alexandra’s birdwing has an extremely small range.

 

 

 

I've always liked butterflies. There's this place in Jersey called The Butterfly Farm and there are loads and loads of them. Some years back, I witnessed one pulling itself out of its cocoon (which took hours, but was totally worth it), and it was a particularly big one. I cried with joy.

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09 February 2015

Monday

 

 

Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly

 

With an enormous wingspan of up to 28 centimetres, Queen Alexandra’s birdwing is the world’s largest butterfly. Vibrantly coloured, this magnificent butterfly displays marked sexual dimorphism. The attractive male has blue-green iridescent streaks across the largely black wings, with a scattering of contrasting yellow spots. The larger female is somewhat duller, with a brown colour across the wings and yellow blotches on the tips. On both sexes, the head and thorax is black and the abdomen is a striking yellow. Like the adult, the caterpillar of Queen Alexandra’s birdwing is conspicuously coloured, with a dark, wine-red body, numerous contrasting bright red spines, and two large, yellow central spines. During metamorphosis, this butterfly forms a light brown, ground-coloured chrysalis.

.

A monophagous species, Queen Alexandra’s birdwing feeds only from the vine species Aristolochia schlechteri. This vine also plays a central role in reproduction, as the butterfly lays a single egg on the underside of one of the leaves. After some 11 to 13 days the caterpillar hatches and eats almost constantly, rapidly increasing in size. The vine contains a toxic substance which, although not poisonous to the caterpillar, makes the caterpillar distasteful to potential predators. This trait is advertised by the caterpillar’s bright, conspicuous colouration, but if consumed by a naive predator, the toxin may cause severe vomiting. The caterpillar’s rapid growth is accompanied by six moults, in which the caterpillar grows new skin and sheds the former, before forming a chrysalis, in which metamorphosis takes place over a period of some 40 to 45 days. Once emerged, the adult butterfly remains dependent upon the same vine, feeding from its flowers with an elongated proboscis.

 

Endemic to northern Papua New Guinea, east of the Owen Stanley Mountains, Queen Alexandra’s birdwing has an extremely small range.

 

 

Love Butterflies. For quite a while, there didn't seem to be any about any more, but in the last couple of years, they seem to have made a comeback over here.

None as big as those ones, though

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10 February 2015

Tuesday

 

 

Saola

 

The astonishing discovery of this unusual, long-horned bovid in 1992 is generally considered to be the greatest animal find of recent times. Not only is it the first large mammal to be discovered since the Kouprey (Bos sauveli) in 1936, but it is also so different from any previously known species that a separate genus was constructed for it. Both males and females have long, slender horns that are up to 52 centimetres in length, almost straight but with a slight curve backwards, and which are thought to be used for protection against predators and possibly in intraspecific conflict.

 

Due to the saola’s relatively recent discovery and the difficulty of detecting it, little is known about this enigmatic species’ ecology or life history. It has been photographed in the wild on only three occasions, and no biologist has ever reported seeing the animal in the wild. Much of what we know about the saola has come from information provided by local people in its range. They report that the species is generally solitary, although there have been a few reports that they sometimes travel in small groups, perhaps during the breeding season. Most of the information on reproduction comes from a single pregnant female held briefly in captivity in northern Laos (it died after just a few weeks). Calculations made from the size of the female’s foetus, together with all other data to date, suggest that the saola is a seasonal breeder, mating between late August and mid-November in Laos. If this is the case, births would coincide with the onset of the monsoon, somewhere around April, May and June in northern Laos.

 

This single captive is also the source of much of the behavioural information about the saola. It appeared primarily diurnal or crepuscular, with activity often concentrated early in the morning and late in the afternoon. The saola browses on, at least, the fleshy herb layer of riverside vegetation.

 

The entire range of the saola lies within a narrow area of forests along the northern and central Annamite mountain range, on the border between Vietnam and Laos. While most records come from south of the Song Ca River in Vietnam, populations to the north have also been found.

 

 

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10 February 2015

Tuesday

 

 

Saola

 

The astonishing discovery of this unusual, long-horned bovid in 1992 is generally considered to be the greatest animal find of recent times. Not only is it the first large mammal to be discovered since the Kouprey (Bos sauveli) in 1936, but it is also so different from any previously known species that a separate genus was constructed for it. Both males and females have long, slender horns that are up to 52 centimetres in length, almost straight but with a slight curve backwards, and which are thought to be used for protection against predators and possibly in intraspecific conflict.

 

Due to the saola’s relatively recent discovery and the difficulty of detecting it, little is known about this enigmatic species’ ecology or life history. It has been photographed in the wild on only three occasions, and no biologist has ever reported seeing the animal in the wild. Much of what we know about the saola has come from information provided by local people in its range. They report that the species is generally solitary, although there have been a few reports that they sometimes travel in small groups, perhaps during the breeding season. Most of the information on reproduction comes from a single pregnant female held briefly in captivity in northern Laos (it died after just a few weeks). Calculations made from the size of the female’s foetus, together with all other data to date, suggest that the saola is a seasonal breeder, mating between late August and mid-November in Laos. If this is the case, births would coincide with the onset of the monsoon, somewhere around April, May and June in northern Laos.

 

This single captive is also the source of much of the behavioural information about the saola. It appeared primarily diurnal or crepuscular, with activity often concentrated early in the morning and late in the afternoon. The saola browses on, at least, the fleshy herb layer of riverside vegetation.

 

The entire range of the saola lies within a narrow area of forests along the northern and central Annamite mountain range, on the border between Vietnam and Laos. While most records come from south of the Song Ca River in Vietnam, populations to the north have also been found.

 

 

That is quite a recent discovery.

Impressive horns

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10 February 2015

Tuesday

 

 

Saola

 

The astonishing discovery of this unusual, long-horned bovid in 1992 is generally considered to be the greatest animal find of recent times. Not only is it the first large mammal to be discovered since the Kouprey (Bos sauveli) in 1936, but it is also so different from any previously known species that a separate genus was constructed for it. Both males and females have long, slender horns that are up to 52 centimetres in length, almost straight but with a slight curve backwards, and which are thought to be used for protection against predators and possibly in intraspecific conflict.

 

Due to the saola’s relatively recent discovery and the difficulty of detecting it, little is known about this enigmatic species’ ecology or life history. It has been photographed in the wild on only three occasions, and no biologist has ever reported seeing the animal in the wild. Much of what we know about the saola has come from information provided by local people in its range. They report that the species is generally solitary, although there have been a few reports that they sometimes travel in small groups, perhaps during the breeding season. Most of the information on reproduction comes from a single pregnant female held briefly in captivity in northern Laos (it died after just a few weeks). Calculations made from the size of the female’s foetus, together with all other data to date, suggest that the saola is a seasonal breeder, mating between late August and mid-November in Laos. If this is the case, births would coincide with the onset of the monsoon, somewhere around April, May and June in northern Laos.

 

This single captive is also the source of much of the behavioural information about the saola. It appeared primarily diurnal or crepuscular, with activity often concentrated early in the morning and late in the afternoon. The saola browses on, at least, the fleshy herb layer of riverside vegetation.

 

The entire range of the saola lies within a narrow area of forests along the northern and central Annamite mountain range, on the border between Vietnam and Laos. While most records come from south of the Song Ca River in Vietnam, populations to the north have also been found.

 

 

 

I imagine that it's quite a rare species.

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