Strange Science

All right. I wanna see a show of digital hands.

Who has ever had a Sea Monkeys kit when they were growing up? Come on, don’t be shy!
Leave a comment and tell me about it!

I had a couple, if I remember well. I LOVED the little guys. I could sit and watch them for hours. I’ve been tempted to pick up another kit lately, but haven’t yet had the time.

Well, for any of you unfamiliar with the strange and fascinating world of Sea Monkeys, here’s a nice little shameless plug - I mean, official advertisement to show you how it’s done:

Aw, yeah - it’s a bit cheesy, but it sure looks easy, right?

Basically, these shrimp-like creatures live happily inside a custom tank with pure, clean water and yummy powder-food to keep them alive and well. They’re pretty cute from a distance, but they’re actually kind of creepy close up…

WHOA!

What I find most interesting is their locomotion - the way they move underwater. See how they move their many little legs? Lots of arthropods like shrimp and baby lobsters move like that, too. It helps direct microscopic food toward their mouths as well, so they basically eat as they go. Pretty cool, right?

Now, if these little chaps didn’t get your going “Ewww”, then this fellow might.

Enter the triops! It looks like something straight out of the days of dinosaurs, doesn’t it?

If you’ve got a hankering to get some of these pets for your own to observe and admire, be sure to go give the official Sea Monkeys website a look, and pick up some triops on your way. It’s well worth the money, especially if you love marine critters like I do. =P 

I seem to have an impeccable affinity for birds of the flightless persuasion!
Many know this familiar fellow by his obnoxious name, and equally by his pudgy stature…it’s the magnificent, the majestic, the magnanimous, the diligent and delightful and daring….Dodo. 

That’s right. The very spitting image of extinction - the dodo bird. 

The history of the dodo is pretty brief…the 1600s summates the primary span of knowledge on the birds in their time alive and coexisting with the sailors that stopped by their home, the island Mauritius, off the coast of Madagascar.

Here’s another very informative site about the dodo bird.

As well as a few pretty pictures to tickle your fancy:

What do you know of the little island of Tasmania?

Yes, it’s just off the southeastern coast of Australia.

Yes, there is an animal that lives there called the Tasmanian Devil, who makes an equally ferocious cartoon counterpart.

But did you know there’s other strange and magnificent animals that dwell down under, in valley and forest and mountain path? You’ll find everything from wombats to sugar gliders to the platypus and quoll.

What you probably won’t see, however, is an animal known commonly as the Tasmanian Tiger. Known also by the name Thylacine, this animal once ran freely through the wilds of Tasmania as one of its most fascinating predators. This backfired when farmers’ prized livestock began to turn up missing or half-eaten.

The vigorous extermination of the Tasmanian tiger did irreparable damage to the species, and before too long, the last known living members were to be seen only inside the caged pens of a zoo.

Benjamin, who became the very last of his kind, paced the barred walls around him, interacting with some of the guests, leaving what would become a lasting, but single mark in the sands of time. You can see some photos of him here.

All hope is not lost, though…

Even if the graceful, curious thylacine has been stricken from the realm of human eyes, it is not impossible that there may be traces of the species still alive and well out in the bush where they have not been accurately spotted. There is even some footage, though blurry and uncertain, that suggests the possibilty. At The Thylacine Museum, there is a page solely dedicated to this subject, and it can be found here. The following video also contains various video clips of thylacines, as well as hopeful footage that, though inconclusive, might be one of a few survivors of the species.

According to Kristin Edwards, who has a growing Thylacine informational group on Facebook, genetic cloning experiments are in the works, and show a good deal of promise, though any flourishing repopulation may be quite some time off. When asked about the odds of cloning repopulation, Edwards responded,

“Cloning is a tricky thing, and could be years off from forming a healthy breeding population. The main concern would of course be most animals would be related, which itself has its own concerns. Also, cloned animals tend to age fast. So this would in fact take probably 30 years or so to actualy kick in if it did in fact work. It has been going on and off for about 10 years. Cloning is hard enough in animals were DNA is known, let alone DNA [that] is 100 years and fragmented. So the chances right now are low - that isn’t to say that it will never work.”

There’s another problem, too, even if this striped marsupial was able to take hold and begin anew - the same reason that got them exterminated in the first place.

Livestock farming.

One of the biggest problems during the early half of the 1900s was that farmers in Tasmania were losing valuable sheep and other livestock. Sheep are an important income source for farmers in Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania. If wild animals are killing them off, it’s going to leave a nasty dent in the market profit. Edwards had more to say when asked about these issues:

“Of course it is always possible that the problems with the sheep industry could resurface - though most experts agree now that the real culprits were dogs. But of course the war has been going on for centries with wolves - so yes, they could be killed again, thats why if/when rediscovered it has to be done carefully,even not telling anyone were the animals are.”

There are certainly plenty of risks for the Tazzy tigers…for man and animal alike. Would keeping them locked up in zoos answer the problem? Not completely…why keep an entire animal race behind bars, even if it’s for their own good? What of reservations? Relocations? Humane means of keeping man and beast apart?

We can’t let ourselves forget that even if we find some animals a hindrance, they’re still important, and in their own way, beautiful, and must be treated rightly and justly. Has humanity learned from the extinction of these animals, and of many other species? Edwards adds,

“Unfortunately, in many ways people have not learned, animals are becoming extinct in alarming rates today, and many people still don’t want predators like wolves or bears around, so in many ways that has not changed. However, we are more aware about the uniqueness of each species.”

Let’s remember to do our part! Even if it’s important to keep ourselves healthy and prosperous, sometimes animals need a helping hand, too.

Please take a moment to browse my image gallery below - there’s plenty of public domain photos and other nifty things thylacine-related for your viewing pleasure.

…You’ve stumbled onto my Strange Science blog, a world of information on all things strange and grotesque, mysterious and beautiful.

I intend to post images/video/random trivia about some of the strangest critters you’ve possibly never even seen!

But fear not, this isn’t a Sci-Fi flick; it’s all found right in the vast world of nature all around us!

Hope you enjoy, and God bless!