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Man and animals—who's the ultimate ruler?

Some animals have been routinely misunderstood and portrayed wrongly in movies. We will try to clear some of the misconceptions and we will also like to hear your views on this.

-Post comments on what you think.

-Read the views of ‘professors’ and US on this topic.

-Find out how many people agree or disagree with you.

-Learn more about the animals that have been misunderstood the most.

by editor shrompy

who hopes you have fun learning new stuff everyday.

Views on MAN and animals
By Dr kcorsnamuh*

(Dr kcorsnamuh is a fictional character created by shrompy who is supposed to be pro-humans and anti-animals.)

Are you extremely afraid of snakes, fish, spiders and gorillas? Well, you should be if you have watched films like Anaconda, King Kong, Piranhas, Eight-legged freaks and the like. Or are you the exact opposite? – do you simply love sheep, horses, birds, dogs, tigers, monkeys, hamsters etc as you have watched films like Ace Ventura Pet Detective or Doctor Do-little? But do you notice that in all the above mentioned films MAN is usually the one who put things right; MAN is usually the protagonist of the film.

As quoted by Swami Vivekananda, “Man is born to rule nature, not to follow it”. That is also exactly my view on this topic. Man is capable of thinking and ruling. He is not a ‘dumb’ animal that wouldn’t speak up for itself. He has the ‘ability’, ‘brains’ and ‘power’ to undo wrong and nab all the ‘baddies’. Therefore, it seems only logical that man is usually the protagonist in the films—and that is also what the audience expects.

Innocent minds are brought up believing that all animals are dangerous or on the other extreme, docile. Worse off, they may even believe that harmless animals are dangerous. They subconsciously see that man is usually ‘the guy who saves the day’. Therefore, they realize that man rules nature.

Have you ever seen animals being the presidents of countries? How about being a member of the parliament? No, you haven’t? See? It is quite obvious that man belongs to a much higher class than animals, thus he has the right to rule them. All in all, (in my opinion), humans rock!

reference: http://members.rediff.com/bbn/qq.html

written by shrompy

The media and the consequence of their distortions
by Dr Gon Freecs

The media plays a huge role in each and every one of our lives in this modern technological era. We receive entertainment, learn about issues relating to our country and even get to know about our natural world through it. However, how much of what we know through the media are actually plain 100% true facts? Is our country really winning the war? Or is that what they want us to think? Likewise, are animals that appear in the movies really what they are? Or are they just plainly being misunderstood by us?

A survey was conducted by yours truly and I have personally found out that an astonishing 64% of the public formulate their opinions of animals through the movies that they have watched, compared to only 12% who get their information from watching documentaries. When these people have a certain opinion of these animals, they spread it to their friends and more people misunderstand these animals. This also shows that Hollywood has a very great impact on people as people will tend to believe what is screened in the movies/television which may not necessarily be true.

Take the example of the wolf. When you think of wolves, many people associate them with the werewolves shown in movies which are ferocious man-eating animals. However, to this day, there is no proof of a wolf killing a person out in the wild. In fact, they are usually shy creatures and when coming into contact with humans, try to avoid you in the wild if possible. They are also very caring creatures who care for their packs like we care for our family.

Common distortions of animals like the wolf lead to dire consequences for them. As people’s perceptions of wolves are so indelibly engraved in our minds through the media, humans nearly brought the wolves to the brink of extinction in a past not too long ago. Their future is bleak.

Through the example of the wolves, we can see the power of the media at work. The media is very capable of distorting the truth of animals and when people take what they see and hear to be the truth without a second doubt, they tend to kill these animals for fear that the latter might harm the former and in worse case scenario, drive them to extinction without even realizing that these animals have been wrongfully portrayed.

reference: http://www.angelfire.com/ok/wolvesworld/

written by janice

Views on distortions of nature in movies

Nature is natural; man is also part of nature. If we change nature, we are also changing man. In reality, man, animals and plants should coexist together, forming a harmonious family. Instead man has changed the concept of it in films, drama etc, and using themes such as deception, terror and greed to stir up false and mixed feelings in the audience minds.

We could clearly see these changes in films which comprise nature, like King Kong, Anaconda, and Spiders etc. Man has used these innocent animals to invoke feelings in us that they are dangerous and harmful, and that man is the safest of all. For instance, in the movie Anaconda, the victims were trapped in the swamp with company of a deadly anaconda. Gradually, the victims are being devoured by the reptile, but except one lady who was saved by the hunter. It seems that the anaconda is the one causing all the trouble. However, if the group of victims did not go into the swamp to catch the anaconda, they would not have died. Moreover, the group of victims had many chances to kill the anaconda, but the hunter wanted it live, thus causing the death of more people. In such movies, man is always the one who gets the last laugh. Therefore, such movies are being used as a medium to manifest the idea that man is always right and always the best. They are pestering us to jettison the idea that lions are the king of the jungle, and attempting to etch the ideology that man is the king of the world into our mind which will make it indelible.

Although such ideology will benefit the human race, as they give us confidence, they only show us the bad side of animals. That is why there are so many hunting and killings of animals going on, as man are scared of the animals which are shown to be fatal and treacherous in the movies. In order to stop these nonsense and mindless activities, Hollywood should show more of the good sides of animals on the sliver screen, such as Born Free, lion king etc. When both sides of the story is shown to the audience, they would learn how to take care of the domestic and tame animals and to keep those ‘red’ ones at a wide berth.

To conclude, I hope that Hollywood would heed my advice and come up with more well-balanced movies showing the ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ sides of the animals, if not it will be an exercise of total futility.

written by zhan quan

Summary and Analysis of KING KONG film

SUMMARY

One of the greatest adventure stories in Hollywood history gets a new interpretation in this action drama from Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson. In the early 1930's, Carl Denham (Jack Black) is a daring filmmaker and adventurer who has gained a reputation for his pictures documenting wildlife in remote and dangerous jungle lands; despite the objections of his backers, Denham plans to film his next project aboard an ocean vessel en route to Skull Island, an uncharted island he discovered on a rare map. Correctly assuming his cast and crew would be wary of such a journey, Denham has told them they're traveling to Singapore, but before they set sail, his leading lady drops out of the project. Needing a beautiful actress willing to take a risk, Denham finds Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts), a beautiful but down-on-her-luck vaudeville performer and offers her the role; cautious but eager to work, Darrow takes the role, and one board the ship she strikes up a romance with Jack Driscoll (Adrian Brody), a respected playwright hired by Denham to write the script for his latest epic.

When Denham and Company arrive on Skull Island, the natives react with savage violence, but they happen to be the least of their worries. Skull Island is a sanctuary for prehistoric life, and lording it over the dinosaurs and other giant beasts is Kong, a twenty-five-foot-tall gorilla who can outfight any creature on Earth. The natives kidnap Darrow, giving her to Kong as an offering to appease the giant beast; Denham and his men set out to find her, with Driscoll bravely determined to save the woman he loves. Eventually, Driscoll finds Darrow and Denham outwits Kong, intending to take the giant ape back to New York for display. But Kong has bonded with Darrow, and his attraction to her proves to be his undoing. Andy Sirkis, who provided the body movements for Gollum in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings pictures, performed similar duties on King Kong, studying gorillas so he could mimic their actions, which were then used as the basis for the special effects crew's digital animation of the great ape. ~Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

reference: http://www.blockbuster.com/online/catalog/movieAllDetails?movieId=231194

ANALYSIS

King Kong has been regarded as a symbol of the unrepressed id, the lumpen-proletariat or the Afro-American, however Goldner and Turner prefer to regard the film as ‘a highly entertaining, shrewdly conceived work of pure cinema.’ For them it was enough to know that the film was popular and made a considerable profit for its creators. Others would say that its success was due to social tensions and inadequacy that produce a need for utopian fantasies that can (temporarily) appease such feelings. Released in April 1933 King Kong provided an escape from the economic concerns of the Great Depression that were then at their peak.

The film itself shows women queuing for a nights' food and lodgings, it is here Ann Darrow is so down-and-out that she has to resort to stealing her food before Carl Denham saves her. Ann is alienated from any stable family, employment or home by the economic situation that has made life in the city unbearably frustrating and dangerous. The utopian aspects of the film can be examined through the use of Dyer's classification system which has five major features. These are energy; abundance; intensity; transparency and community. With regard to energy, we are treated to the fights on Skull Island between the dinosaurs, King Kong and the ship’s crew. On their make-shift raft and in their dealings with the natives and the final capture of King Kong the men show that they have the capacity and energy to take-on all comers even if it means death. Carl Denham himself is a fearless adventurer who as one of the ship's crew says "ain’t scared of nothing." By sailing from New York the problem of Ann's poverty is solved. Through financial backing Denham can sail to any part of the globe in search of adventure for his film. They have abundant resources and if their exploitation of Kong in the city is successful they are likely to make massive profits that will help them escape the general economic problems. T

here is a good deal of intensity in the film. There is the unambiguous battle between men, dinosaurs and Kong. That the screaming Ann should be saved from Kong is never doubted, any moral dilemma about fighting otherwise extinct monsters is swept aside by the fact that they are so set on killing and eating any living person. The transparency category that takes note of the straight forwardness of relationships without the ambiguities of everyday life is fulfilled in King Kong. The love between Ann and John Driscoll is simply and directly presented even though John is wary of her at first. Ann represents beauty and Kong the beast. In the community category we can see that it requires a larger than usual crew to get to Skull Island. Through their cooperation they are able to capture Kong and take him back to the U.S.A. And it takes a group of aircraft to shoot Kong down from the Empire State Building. In addition, the group of sailors led by Denham is able to deal with the natives they encounter without too much difficulty. Their consensus view of the world, which is not tinged by superstition and magical ritual is able to deal with Kong in a direct manner. Thus the white man's group is shown as superior in his relationship with the world and therefore can legitimately exploit anything in the world for his own benefit at the cost of ‘primitive’ natives. The cumulative effect of these features is that they provide reassurance to the audience. Through human energy and a sense of community abundance can be obtained. The doubts and concerns of our lives are temporarily replaced by our concern for the characters in the film whose problems and relationships are simple and resolved by the end of the picture (the qualities of intensity and transparency cover these features). The emphasis on the adventurer rather than the thinker allows the uneducated poor to identify with the characters in King Kong. The concentration on adventure, pace. excitement. and incidents that would never occur in real life in King Kong came about due to Cooper's belief that, “The world is getting smaller every year. I mean, it's becoming too civilised. I can remember when the world was a grand old place - a place full of unexplored lands - choked with adventure...But now, what's a fellow to do? Where is he to go?" The centre of civilisation, the city and its greatest achievement the skyscraper becomes the prison and place of execution for King Kong. As Denham says, "He was a King and a God in the world he knew, but now he comes to civilisation merely "a captive, a show to gratify your curiosity." The film itself criticises the film industry and the idea of entertainment. Early in the story Denham has to obtain a woman because the film has to have a love interest to "gross twice as much" in the box office. The co-directors and producers of' King Kong, Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack were both men of action who had produced semi- documentary films in exotic, dangerous, foreign locations.

Their 1929 film Chang was successful but was criticised for its love interest. Their dissatisfaction with the demands of civilisation could be played out in King Kong even as it pandered to the perceived taste of the audience. The rich audience who pay to see' the subdued Kong and the newsmen represent the cynical people who are the product of the city and have no conception of the elemental and natural aspects of existence. The crowds who run from Kong in the city are helpless and unorganised and have to rely on their technological superiority - an anonymous form of organisation - (in this case aircraft and bullets) to save them. Yet, this same technology traps them on the elevated railway train, and prisons them in rooms where Kong can easily grab them. There is the double-bind that we wish to return to our more primitive and natural roots but at the same time we cannot shed our technology and our rational mode of thinking that makes Denham "superior" to the natives on Skull Island. Civilised man might be rational and yearn for utopian values but the public and the entertainment industry does have a great interest in the irrational and dystopian. This is displayed in the mass media. preoccupation with death, scandal, disaster and any kind of threat to the existing order of things. If we regard King Kong in a dystopian light then we can see how it plays on the audiences' unconscious fears and desires. In the context of the depression we can see that the failure of the economic system renders men and women useless and surplus to requirement. The characters in the film do not permanently escape this situation but return with a drugged Kong who is a representative of nature subdued. From a Freudian viewpoint it reveals that in civilised society our natural inclinations and desires are chained and bound; when it is not repressed by social codes it kills and wrecks without any regard for anyone or anything. What actually kills Kong is his infatuation with Ann, this vision of beauty prevents him from allowing his id full rein. As soon as Ann, a representative of society and the white-person's world infiltrates Kong's world his power is diminished. As Denham declares at the end of the film, "It was Beauty killed the Beast." Beauty and her civilisation is the snake that enters Kong's Garden of Eden. In the city the jungle God becomes a monster because of the city's worship of money.

Ironically this film that concentrates on individuals, the supremacy of love as opposed to wealth (the death of Kong allows Ann and John to be united but deprives them of a source of riches), and the values of nature, is created by means of complicated technology in order to obtain wealth and is aimed at an anonymous audience that mostly lives in cities. On the one hand you can argue that King Kong is pure entertainment because it diverts the audience from its own immediate and direct concerns. Indeed, it shows how lucky they are to be from the dangers of the jungle and that money is not everything. On the other hand the utopian aspects of King Kong are undermined by its portrayal of the city as an alienating anonymous machine that has no heart, and that we are all tainted by civilisation. The film highlights disturbing contradictions in ourselves and our society and King Kong can be read as a symbol for our deep archetypal anxieties. If we regard entertainment as just pure escapism we must ask why certain escapist films are more popular than others. Certainly, King Kong indulges our utopian dreams of escape, but the death of Kong leaves us with a sense of loss and regret. Although the status quo is restored the assumptions of civilisation are still left unresolved. King Kong questions the authenticity of our lives and makes us consider why we desperately need to escape in the first place. This makes the proposition that entertainment films are nothing more than the delivery of pleasure for profit questionable and we must take account of their articulation of barely conscious anxieties as part of their allure.

reference: http://www.talkingpix.co.uk/Article_King%20Kong.html

done by zhan quan

Summary of OCTOPUS film

Sailors in the course of a dangerous mission are confronted with a new kind of terror in this monstrous thriller. A terrorist wanted in several nations is captured by authorities and sent to America to stand trial. The criminal is being transported aboard a heavily guarded submarine, in hopes of foiling any escape attempts, but the sub is forced to pass through "the Devil's Eye," a region at sea where a number of ships have been lost. The submarine's crew soon learns the secret of "the Devil's Eye" when the ship is attacked by a giant, prehistoric octopus. In the confusion, the terrorist escapes to a passenger ship, and the crew must find the fugitive as they fend of the vicious sea creature.

reference: http://www.amazon.ca/Octopus-John-Eyres/dp/B00004YS59/sr=11-1/qid=1167656640/ref=sr_11_1/702-8900914-4195205

done by zhan quan

Summary of EIGHT-LEGGED FREAKS film

The residents of a rural mining town discover that an unfortunate chemical spill has caused hundreds of little spiders to mutate overnight to the size of SUVs. It's then up to mining engineer Chris McCormack and Sheriff Sam Parker to mobilize an eclectic group of townspeople, including the Sheriff's young son, Mike, her daughter, Ashley, and paranoid radio announcer Harlan, into battle against the bloodthirsty eight-legged beasts.

reference: http://www.amazon.com/Eight-Legged-Freaks-P-S/dp/B00006JEKF

done by zhan quan

Summary of PIRANHAS film

A young couple stumble across an abandoned US Army test site on a mountain, in which is a huge pool. Thinking it's an ordinary swimming pool, they jump in. But this pool is home to the piranha, and the couple are eaten alive. A young woman P.I. is hired by the father of one of the missing kids to find them, and she meets up with an alcoholic outdoorsman who lives on the mountain. The two of them find the test site and drain the pool to see what's in it. As they do they are accosted by Dr. Hoak - the sole resident of the test site - who informs them that the inhabitants of the pool were the products of a gene-splicing experiment called 'Operation Razorteeth', designed to produce a mutant strain of piranha fish for deployment in the Vietnam War against the NVA. The fish could live in cold water and breed at a high rate. Realizing that a children's summer camp and the Lost River Lake Resort downriver are in the piranhas' path, they set out to try to stop it. The piranha are well ahead of them, and they kill several people on their way downstream. When they try to warn the camp director and resort owner of the danger, they are arrested. Thanks to the woman's ingenuity they escape custody and race down to the camp in a state police car to warn them. But the piranha have already struck - and there are others who want to keep the danger of the piranha a secret...

reference: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078087/plotsummary

done by zhan quan

Summary of ANACONDA film

A "National Geographic" crew heads down the Amazon in a jungle boat to make a documentary on a long-lost tribe of natives. En route, they rescue a hunter from his sinking boat and take him on board. After the ship's captain is attacked by a poisonous insect and goes comatose, the hunter commandeers the boat, takes the crew hostage, and drags them along on his insane quest to capture a giant anaconda.

reference: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118615/plotsummary

done by zhan quan

Real facts of the GORILLA

The gorilla, the largest of the living primates, is a ground-dwelling herbivore that inhabits the forests of Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and (under debate as of 2006) either four or five subspecies. Its DNA is 97%-98% identical to that of a human, and is the next closest living relative to humans after the two chimpanzee species.

Gorillas move around by knuckle-walking. Adult males range in height from 165-175 cm (5 ft 5 in-5 ft 9 in), and in weight from 140-200 kg (310-440 lb). Adult females are often half the size of a silverback, averaging about 140 cm (4 ft 7 in) tall and 100 kg (220 lb). Occasionally, a silverback of over 183 cm (6 feet) and 225 kg (500 lb) have been recorded in the wild. However, obese gorillas in captivity have reached a weight of 270 kg (600 lb). Gorillas have a facial structure which is described as prognathous, that is, their mandible protrudes further out than the maxilla.

Gestation is 8½ months. There are typically 3 to 4 years between births. Infants stay with their mothers for 3-4 years. Females mature at 10–12 years (earlier in captivity); males 11–13 years. Lifespan is between 30–50 years. The Philadelphia Zoo's Massa set the longevity record of 54 years at the time of his death.

Gorillas are mainly vegetarian, eating fruits, leaves, and shoots. Insects make up 1-2% of their diet. Due to their diet of plant life, gorillas often have bloated stomachs. Almost all gorillas share the same blood type (B) and, like humans, have individual finger prints. Gorillas are closely related to humans and are considered highly intelligent. A few individuals in captivity, such as Koko, have been taught a subset of sign language (see animal language for a discussion).

Giant gorillas have been a recurring theme in film since the 1930s. Following their popularity in the 1930s and 40s, most notably in the films King Kong, Tarzan, and Mighty Joe Young, gorillas came to be heavily featured in comic books. Short contrived gorilla plots were often included so that they could appear on the cover to boost sales.

Gorilla suits are an eternally popular gag costume, appearing in large numbers of TV shows since the 1950s. A number of sports teams have a gorilla as a mascot usually personified by an actor in a gorilla suit.

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla

done by zhan quan

Real facts of the OCTOPUS

The octopus is a cephalopod of the order Octopoda that inhabits many diverse regions of the ocean, especially coral reefs. The term may also refer to only those creatures in the genus Octopus. In the larger sense, there are 289 different octopus species, which is over one-third of the total number of cephalopod species.

Octopuses are highly intelligent, probably more intelligent than any other order of invertebrates. The exact extent of their intelligence and learning capability is much debated among biologists, but maze and problem-solving experiments have shown that they do have both short- and long-term memory. Their short lifespans probably limit the amount they can ultimately learn. There has been much speculation to the effect that almost all octopus behaviors are independently learned rather than instinct-based, and although this is undoubtedly an interesting idea it remains largely unproven. It can, however, be logically concluded that they learn almost no behaviors from their parents, with whom young octopuses have very little contact.

An octopus has a highly complex nervous system, only part of which is localized in its brain. Two-thirds of an octopus's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its arms, which have a remarkable amount of autonomy. Octopus arms show a wide variety of complex reflex actions arising on at least three different levels of the nervous system. Some octopuses, such as the mimic octopus, will move their arms in ways that emulate the movements of other sea creatures.

In laboratory experiments, octopuses can be readily trained to distinguish between different shapes and patterns. They have been reported to practice observational learning, although the validity of these findings is widely contested on a number of grounds. Octopuses have also been observed in what some have described as play: repeatedly releasing bottles or toys into a circular current in their aquariums and then catching them. Octopuses often break out of their aquariums and sometimes into others in search of food. They have even boarded fishing boats and opened holds to eat crabs.

In some countries octopuses are on the list of experimental animals on which surgery may not be performed without anesthesia. In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates.
A common belief is that when stressed, an octopus may begin to eat its own arms. However, limited research conducted in this area has revealed that the cause of this abnormal behavior, called autophagy, may be a virus that attacks the octopus's nervous system. Thus this behavior may be more correctly labeled as a neurological disorder.

Three defensive mechanisms are typical of octopuses: ink sacs, camouflage, and autotomising limbs. Most octopuses can eject a thick blackish ink in a large cloud to aid in escaping from predators. The main colouring agent of the ink is melanin, which is the same chemical that gives humans their hair and skin colour.

An octopus's camouflage is aided by specialized skin cells which can change the apparent color, opacity, and reflectiveness of the epidermis. Chromatophores contain yellow, orange, red, brown, or black pigments; most species have three of these colors, while some have two or four. Other color-changing cells are reflective iridophores, and leucophores (white). This color-changing ability can also be used to communicate with or warn other octopuses. The very venomous blue-ringed octopus becomes bright yellow with blue rings when it is provoked.
When under attack, some octopuses can detach their own limbs, in a similar manner to the way skinks and other lizards detach their tails. The crawling arm serves as a distraction to would-be predators; this ability is also used in mating.

A few species, such as the Mimic Octopus, have a fourth defense mechanism. They can combine their highly flexible bodies with their color changing ability to accurately mimic other, more dangerous animals such as lionfish, sea snakes and eels. They have also been observed changing the texture of their mantle in order to achieve a greater camouflage. The mantle can take on the spiky appearance of seaweed, or the scraggly, bumpy texture of a rock, among other disguises.
Octopuses have keen eyesight. Although their slit-shaped pupils might be expected to afflict them with astigmatism, it appears that this is not a problem in the light levels in which an octopus typically hunts. Surprisingly, they do not appear to have colour vision, although they can distinguish the polarization of light. Attached to the brain are two special organs, called statocysts, that allow the octopus to sense the orientation of its body relative to horizontal. An autonomic response keeps the octopus's eyes oriented so that the pupil slit is always horizontal.
Octopuses also have an excellent sense of touch. The octopus's suckers are equipped with chemoreceptors so that the octopus can taste what it is touching. The arms contain tension sensors so that the octopus knows whether its arms are stretched out. However, the octopus has a very poor proprioceptive sense. The tension receptors are not sufficient for the octopus brain to determine the position of the octopus's body or arms. (It is not clear that the octopus brain would be capable of processing the large amount of information that this would require; the flexibility of an octopus's arms is much greater than that of the limbs of vertebrates, which devote large areas of cerebral cortex to the processing of proprioceptive inputs.) As a result, the octopus does not possess stereognosis; that is, it does not form a mental image of the overall shape of the object it is handling. It can detect local texture variations, but cannot integrate the information into a larger picture.

The neurological autonomy of the arms means that the octopus has great difficulty learning about the detailed effects of its motions. The brain may issue a high-level command to the arms, but the nerve cords in the arms execute the details. There is no neurological path for the brain to receive feedback about just how its command was executed by the arms; the only way it knows just what motions were made is by observing the arms visually
Many species of octopus are eaten as food by human cultures around the world. The arms and sometimes other parts of the body are prepared in various ways, often depending on the species being eaten.

Octopus is a common ingredient in sushi, takoyaki, and Akashiyaki. Some small species are sometimes eaten alive as a novelty and health food (mostly in South Korea).

Though octopuses can be difficult to keep in captivity, some people keep them as pets. Octopuses often escape even from supposedly secure tanks, due to their intelligence and problem solving skills. The variation in size and life span among octopus species makes it difficult to know how long a new specimen can naturally be expected to live. That is, a small octopus may be just born or may be an adult, depending on the species. By selecting a well-known species, such as the California Two-spot Octopus, one can choose a small octopus (around the size of a tennis ball) and be confident that it is young with a full life ahead of it.

Octopuses are also quite strong for their size. Octopuses kept as pets have been known to open the covers of their aquariums and survive for a time in the air in order to get to a nearby feeder tank and gorge themselves on the fish there. They have also been known to catch and kill some species of sharks

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus

done by zhan quan

Real facts of the SPIDER

Spiders are predatory invertebrate animals with two body segments, eight legs, no chewing mouth parts and no wings. They are classified in the order Araneae, one of several orders within the larger class of arachnids, a group which also contains scorpions, whip scorpions, mites, ticks, and opiliones (harvestmen). The study of spiders is known as arachnology.

All spiders produce silk, a thin, strong protein strand extruded by the spider from spinnerets most commonly found on the end of the abdomen. Many species use it to trap insects in webs, although there are many species that hunt freely. Silk can be used to aid in climbing, form smooth walls for burrows, build egg sacs, wrap prey, and temporarily hold sperm, among other applications.

All spiders except those in the families Uloboridae and Holarchaeidae, and in the suborder Mesothelae) (together about 350 species) can inject venom to protect themselves or to kill and liquefy prey. Only up to 200 species, however, have bites that can pose health problems to humans. Many larger species' bites may be painful, but will not produce lasting health concerns.

Most spiders are unlikely to bite humans because they do not identify humans as prey.
Spiders reproduce by means of eggs, which are packed into silk bundles called egg sacs. Spiders often use elaborate mating rituals (especially the visually advanced jumping spiders) to allow conspecifics to identify each other and to allow the male to approach and inseminate the female without triggering a predatory response. If the approach signals are exchanged correctly, the male spider must (in most cases) make a timely departure after mating to escape before the female's normal predatory instincts return.

Sperm transmission from male to female occurs indirectly. When a male is ready to mate, he spins a web pad upon which he discharges his seminal fluid. He then dips his pedipalps (also known as palpi), the small, leg-like appendages on the front of his cephalothorax, into the seminal fluid, picking it up by capillary attraction. Mature male spiders have swollen bulbs on the end of their palps for this purpose, and this is a useful way to identify the sex of a spider in the field. With his palps thus charged he goes off in search of a female. Copulation occurs when the male inserts one or both palps into the female's genital opening, known as the epigyne. He transfers his seminal fluid into the female by expanding the sinuses in his palp. Once the sperm is inside her, she stores it in a chamber and only uses it during the egg-laying process, when the eggs comes into contact with the male sperm for the first time and are fertilized; this may be why the vivipary has never evolved in spiders.

Very unusual behaviour is seen in spiders of the genus Tidarren: the male amputates one of his palps before maturation and enters his adult life with one palp only. The palpi constitute 20% of the body mass of males of this species, and since this weight greatly impedes its movement, by detaching one of the two he gains increased mobility. In the Yemeni species Tidarren argo, the remaining palp is then torn off by the female. The separated palp remains attached to the female's epigynum for about four hours and apparently continues to function independently. In the meantime the female feeds on the palpless male.

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider

done by zhan quan

Real facts of the PIRANHA

The piranhas or pirañas are a group of carnivorous freshwater fish living in South American rivers. They belong to five genera of the subfamily of Serrasalminae (which also includes closely related herbivorous fish including pacus and silver dollars). They are normally about 15 to 25 cm long (6 to 10 inches), although reportedly individuals have been found up to 40 cm in length. They are known for their sharp teeth and an aggressive appetite for meat and flesh. Locals use their teeth in tools and weapons. They are normally found only in the Amazonian, Guianas and Paraguayan river systems. However, piranha (most likely former aquarium-dwellers) are also occasionally found in the Potomac River, but they typically do not survive the cold winters of that region.

Recent research on Serrasalmus aff. brandtii and Pygocentrus nattereri in Viana Lake, which is formed during the wet season when the Rio Pindare (a tributary of the Rio Mearim) floods, has shown that these species eat vegetable matter at some stages in their life; they are not strictly carnivorous fish.

They are a popular food fish also, though if a specimen is caught on hook and line it may be attacked by other piranhas.

The name piranha may come from a hybrid language composed of Tupi-Guarani languages; it may be a compound word made of the components 'pirá', meaning 'fish', and 'sanha' or 'ranha', meaning 'tooth'. In Tupi, inalienably possessed nouns take the prefix 't-', 's-', or 'r-' depending on the possessor, or zero in combination; thus 'pirá'+'anha'. Alternatively, it may come from Tupi 'pirá' ('fish') and 'ánha' ('cut').

In the Maroni River in Suriname/French Guiana a large kind, weighing up to five kilograms, can be found; it seems to be a herbivore. This species hosts colonies of worms in its stomach.
Piranhas can be bought as pets. They can normally be bought as babies that are no older than a few weeks and no bigger than a thumbnail, but they can also be bought fully grown, though it will cost quite a bit more. To feed the Piranhas, any fish based foods will do, which can be bought from any good fish farm/store. When getting piranhas as babies you first start feeding them as little as possible as if you over feed they will die. As they get older and bigger they will eat alot more, but make sure when feeding them you give them something different every day, as if you feed them the same thing everyday when you do come to feed them something different they will not eat it and they become very fussy with their food. So make sure you buy loads of different sorts of food and change it everyday.

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piranha

done by zhan quan

Real facts of the ANACONDA

Anacondas (local names: Jibóia and Sucuri) are four species of aquatic boa inhabiting the swamps and rivers of the dense forests of tropical South America. The Yellow Anaconda can be found as far south as Argentina.

There are two possible origins for the word 'anaconda': It is perhaps an alteration of the Sinhalese word 'henakanday', meaning 'whip snake', or alternatively, the Tamil word 'anaikondran', which means 'elephant killer', as early Spanish settlers in South America referred to the anaconda as 'matatoro', or 'bull killer'. It is unclear how the name originated so far from the snake's native habitat; it is likely due to its vague similarity to the large Asian pythons.
They typically feed on large rodents, tapirs, capybaras, deer, peccaries, fish, turtles, birds, sheep, dogs, and aquatic reptiles like caiman. They have been known to occasionally prey on jaguars and attacks on humans can be confirmed, although this is rare. Younger anacondas feed on mice, rats, chicks, frogs and fish. Most local people kill these snakes on sight, out of the fear that they are man-eaters. In most instances, if an anaconda senses humans in the area, it will retreat in another direction. Human death by anaconda is quite rare. They themselves are preyed by jaguars, large caimans and by other anacondas. A wounded anaconda can also fall prey to piranhas.

Anacondas are usually coiled up in a murky, shallow pool or at the river's edge. They wait to ambush their unsuspecting prey when they come down for a drink. Anacondas bite their prey with their sharp teeth, hold on with their powerful jaws and pull them under water. The victim may drown first or it may be squeezed to death in the anaconda's muscular coils. Anacondas, true to the boa family, constrict their hapless victims to death. The snake squeezes tighter each time its prey breathes out, so the prey cannot breath in again. Suffocation does not take long. Anacondas swallow their prey whole, starting with the head. This is so the legs fold up and the prey goes down smoothly. The Anaconda can swallow prey much bigger than the size of its mouth since its jaw can unhinge and the jaw bones are loosely connected to the skull. While the snake eats, its muscles have wave-like contractions, crushing the prey even further and surging it downward with each bite.

Just about every species of snake on earth has teeth, but the anacondas' teeth are not used for chewing. Most snakes' teeth are used for holding onto their prey, preventing them from escaping. Some snakes have venom in two specially designed, extra long teeth which they use to kill their prey. Anacondas do have teeth, but their bites are neither fatal nor venomous. They rely on their enormous size and power to subdue their victims. It is possible to be bitten by an anaconda, but the bite itself would not be fatal. Like almost all boas, anacondas give birth to live young.

The largest known anaconda measured 10 meters (32.8 feet) long,
Anacondas have a reputation for bad temperament; that plus the massive size of the green species mean that anacondas are comparatively less popular as pets than other boas, but they are fairly commonly available in the exotic pet trade.

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaconda

done by zhan quan

Survey!!

Janice wrote and conducted a survey on our list of misunderstood animals:

She surveyed 25 people- 15 students between ages 13-18 and 20 adults ages 21-55. Here are the questions and the results:-

1. Are anacondas man-eating animals?

16 people said YES.
7 people said NO.
2 people said Don't Know.

2. Do you agree that gorillas are ferocious creatures?


13 people said YES.
12 people said No.
0 persons said Don't Know.

3. Do piranhas eat humans?

13 people said YES.
12 people said NO.
0 persons said Don't Know.

4. Are spiders in the home poisonous and a danger to children and pets?

8 people said YES.
10 people said NO.
7 people said Don't Know.

5. Is it true that octopuses are docile creatures?

17 people said YES.
6 people said NO.
2 people said Don't Know.

6. Where does your perception of these animals come from?

16 people said from MOVIES.
3 people said from WATCHING eg. documentaries.
1 person from READING eg. books, newspaper, magazines.
5 people from OTHERS eg. by word of mouth

7. Have you personally come up close to most of these animals?

15 people said YES.
10 people said NO.

surveyed by janice
edited and posted by shrompy

Shrompy’s view on man and animals

Shrompy feels that how the media, for example films, distort the true characteristics of animals will severely affect the future and current generations. Little children are more affected as they are too young and too simple-minded—they have yet to learn about the true characteristics of animals. Thus, for example, they can readily accept that animals can talk (from films like Charlotte’s Web, Babe in the City and Dr Dolittle).

They do not know that they are actually learning the wrong things. And as they grow older and watch films like Cats and Dogs, Octopus and Jaws for example, they may start to believe everything they see in the media. They may grow up thinking that pigs can herd sheep like sheepdogs; that spiders are friendly or dangerous (depending on the films they watch); cats are evil creatures and octopuses and sharks attack people with no qualms at all. This may result in the passing on of false or half-true information to other generations. Sooner or later, the world may be full for ignorant people who do not know a dangerous animal to one which can be domesticated.

Not many people now actually know the true characteristics of some animals. One of the most common misconceptions is about the piranha. In some stories, the piranha is depicted as a flesh-eating carnivore—a threat to humans and most things which are (apparently) made of ‘tasty’ flesh. In cartoons and films, the lake or swamp full of piranhas makes the task of crossing it a difficult and dangerous one. Thus it is quite obvious that the media influences the society.

Therefore, I feel that it is necessary to clear some of the most common misconceptions of some animals before the generations after us become brainless firm believers of what they see and hear, for as quoted by an anonymous person, “Truth is eternal. Knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.”

reference: http://members.rediff.com/bbn/qq.html

written by shrompy