Afraid of spiders? Dont look.....

[elbe]

The better technology gets, the better we can study animals. Camera technology that allows detailed pictures like that one, GPS systems to monitoring migraitons, camouflaged cameras to witness animal behaviour never previously seen. It's a fascinating time.

But all animals, from a flea to a whale are absolutely breath taking when you think about it. The way they have all evolved to fill and exploit the various niches in the environment around them is truly astounding.

I'm a Zoology geek

I just wish some species were able to be bred much more easily like the Panda.

..

..? What?

Artificial insemination is a fabricated way of reproducing, you don't see animals with tins of liquid nitrogen freezing their own eggs in their natural environment.

When i say i hoped they were bred more easily, I meant they get up and go and do it themselves (almost like rabbits).

maybe Duracell need to start farming bamboo?
good god can you imagine that? what would the consequences of a population explosion like that be?

[^btxl]

The better technology gets, the better we can study animals. Camera technology that allows detailed pictures like that one, GPS systems to monitoring migraitons, camouflaged cameras to witness animal behaviour never previously seen. It's a fascinating time.

But all animals, from a flea to a whale are absolutely breath taking when you think about it. The way they have all evolved to fill and exploit the various niches in the environment around them is truly astounding.

I'm a Zoology geek

I just wish some species were able to be bred much more easily like the Panda.

..

..? What?

Artificial insemination is a fabricated way of reproducing, you don't see animals with tins of liquid nitrogen freezing their own eggs in their natural environment.

When i say i hoped they were bred more easily, I meant they get up and go and do it themselves (almost like rabbits).

maybe Duracell need to start farming bamboo?
good god can you imagine that? what would the consequences of a population explosion like that be?

Man Vs Machine. Machines and economoy, making us have better lives at the expense of environments that are thousands of years old.

There was a program on late at night once looking into whether it is actually more profitable keeping the Amazon the way it is rather than chopping it down.

[elbe]

enviroments always change, animals evolve, the only difference between man changing the enviroment and "nature" changing the envirometn is that we can make a concious decission not to.

[ttam]

i actually work with wood and the use of bamboo is ment to be environmentally friendly as it grows to its full height in less then 5 years which means that entire new forest of bamboo can be remade in a matter of years ......... so long as we dnt destroy it quicker than we can replant it

[unlikely]

i used to live in africa and i can gaurantee that is real, I've seen golden orb webs bigger than that too. Luckily they're very docile, i've had one put on me before (only an 8inch diameter one tho) and it just walked about for a bit. Astonishingly beautiful webs and markings too. There was one really old one at a place we stayed at once and it was literally the span of a door frame. We used to get solifuges in our house too and those, i admit, iwas terrified of. They have wierd nervous system dysfunctions that make them twitch and spin around like crackheads and its very unsettling. I stepped on one barefoot once first thing in the morning and its abdomen exploded and it scuttled off under a table leaving a trail of grey goo, couldn't eat anything grey for ages .

Seriously they are fucking horrible, we used to get bird eating spiders, massive scorpions, giant centipedes, boomslang, green mambas and all sorts in the house and these were still the second scariest things ive seen despite being comparitively harmless. The scariest was a one-off and as far as i know undocumented black beetle thing that was the size of a goliath beetle, flew around the house and actively tried to attack us with 2-inch long jaws. We eventially got it out by getting it to clamp onto a broom handle and chucking it out the door, but for the rest of the night we could hear it trying to chew its way back in through the door quite voraciously. It left large indentations in the wooden broom handle and scratches on the edge of the door that looked like a dog had been at it

[kins83]

Unlikely, you are a lucky man. I'd love to see some of the creatures you've described (ignoring the fact that I would shit myself several times over). So was that when you were a kid or more recently than that?

[oddfellow]

The scariest was a one-off and as far as i know undocumented black beetle thing that was the size of a goliath beetle, flew around the house and actively tried to attack us with 2-inch long jaws. We eventially got it out by getting it to clamp onto a broom handle and chucking it out the door, but for the rest of the night we could hear it trying to chew its way back in through the door quite voraciously. It left large indentations in the wooden broom handle and scratches on the edge of the door that looked like a dog had been at it

That's fucking horrible...

[unlikely]

I was in Kenya from 4 years old to 10 then Zimbabwe from 10 to 13 (my dad was working for the I.L.O. at the time). Kenya was incredibly beautiful and had things like toucans and mongeese and leopards, quite a few of the 6 and 8 legged things (we had a safari ant invasion once that was pretty mad) but nothing could of prepared me for the amount of scary shit in Zimbabwe. I think it was due to so much of the wildlife getting eaten during the war of independance so the insects had no competition and went crazy, with the dominant predator types getting very large and prevalent indeed. Of course if you were there now that would be the least of your worries. Sad days for that country right now (very difficult to solve the problems there too, but thats a whole other thing).

On a different tip i recon time is justifiably up for the Panda, its a miracle its survived this long, it dying out seems like an evolutionary inevitability. And have you seen what they do to scratch their arses? Filthy creatures, filthy .

[theaccuria]

i thought the camel spider photo wasn't fake .....it was just perspective..

besides are don't care how big camel spiders are...have you seem one face to face? theyre nasty buggers

cant help my arsehole closing up to that:S

The fuck?

[kins83]

Yeah too right. A real shame what's going on over there. I heard on the radio this morning about food shortages there too. Can't really see where it's going to end there to be honest.

Your theory for the abundance of all things multi-legged is a damn good one. I'd say that's probably bang on! So were all of these beasties sort of out in 'the wild' or were they just in and around human settlements?

It's quite hard for me to comprehend when the most exotic insect/arachnid I've ever seen is a large spider in the bath.

But yeah, I'd have to agree with you on the panda thing. They don't deserve to be around anymore really. Almost get the impression that without human intervention they'd be extinct already - not many animals you can say that of.

[unlikely]

Well we lived in the bush and had a thatched roof so we definately got it pretty bad! There wasn't that much in the major cities i dont think but any smaller settlements were prob pretty crawling. I used to enjoy looking for them out in the bush but when they caught you off guard at home it was nasty. I once nearly stepped on a tarantula type thing barefoot on the stairs too but did a double take when i felt the hairs on my foot, then all of a sudden 5 more appeared from under the bed/ behind a picture on the wall/ under the bath / behind the curtain. It was like a full scale invasion! It was fun though too...

[badger]

But yeah, I'd have to agree with you on the panda thing. They don't deserve to be around anymore really. Almost get the impression that without human intervention they'd be extinct already - not many animals you can say that of.

exactly. if an animal is that shit at surviving even then what's the point in helping it? that's the point of evolution surely? if every animal that couldn't survive on its on terms was helped then god knows what weird and pathetic creatures would be running around

and fucking hell some of those insects look and sound horrendous

[DZA]

lowe it,why did i look you put a post say dont look makes people wanna look more

[^btxl]

On a different tip i recon time is justifiably up for the Panda, its a miracle its survived this long, it dying out seems like an evolutionary inevitability. And have you seen what they do to scratch their arses? Filthy creatures, filthy .

Panda's are actually on the up - a recent study has estimated that there are 2000-3000 pandas living in the wild. They used to live in the low, flat lands of china but deforistation and farming meant they had to adapt to living in the mountains.

exactly. if an animal is that shit at surviving even then what's the point in helping it? that's the point of evolution surely? if every animal that couldn't survive on its on terms was helped then god knows what weird and pathetic creatures would be running around

Oh you mean like the Dodo? Shame it couldn't defend itself aye? Dinosaurs? Oh maybe they should have evolved into a cockroach when the huge comet that supposedly hit earth was on its way.

Animals die off for numerous reasons, Orangutan for example, the Sumatran species is critically endangered, not because it can't work out how to pick fruit from a tree but due to human activities and development.

Western Black Rhinoceros, declared tentatively extinct in 2006 - I am never ever going to be able to see this mammal ever, why? Because it couldn't defend itself against poachers with guns, oh well too bad, maybe some rhinos and tigers will evolve into kevlar.

[^btxl]

Animals will never be able to extinct each other, unless we get involved.

All down to the life cycle and supply of predators over prey.

Bird eats alot of insects, birds die off because there is not enough prey to sustain them, as birds die, less insects are being consumed meaning they are on the thrive, birds then start thriving as insects decline. Rinse and repeat.

[elbe]

Animals will never be able to extinct each other, unless we get involved.

All down to the life cycle and supply of predators over prey.

Bird eats alot of insects, birds die off because there is not enough prey to sustain them, as birds die, less insects are being consumed meaning they are on the thrive, birds then start thriving as insects decline. Rinse and repeat.

bollocks. you think that before we evolved into what we are now that no animals became exticnt? animals and plants become extinct every day, in places where there is no human involvement.

[unlikely]

obviously exinction of species due to human intervention is a major problem and not something to be taken lightly, what kins and myself are saying is that Pandas don't seem to be a victim of this, rather they are a victim of their inherent shitness. They even seem to be aware of this and have lost the will to procreate in the hope that they can fall onto a less smelly/rubbish rung on the wheel of reincarnation. The only enjoyment they can have is contests to see how far they can piss up a tree, and Im sure the male ninjas know how quickly that gets old

Lets not deny Pandas souls the right to move on from their giant damp old teddy bear bodies they were burdened with, kill them all now, its for the best .

[^btxl]

Animals will never be able to extinct each other, unless we get involved.

All down to the life cycle and supply of predators over prey.

Bird eats alot of insects, birds die off because there is not enough prey to sustain them, as birds die, less insects are being consumed meaning they are on the thrive, birds then start thriving as insects decline. Rinse and repeat.

bollocks. you think that before we evolved into what we are now that no animals became exticnt? animals and plants become extinct every day, in places where there is no human involvement.

Really? Such as...?

Animals don't specifically hunt for one creature minimising the risk that any species will become extinct. Where as poachers actually go out hunting for tigers, and other rare exotic animals.

BTW: Notice I said extinct to each other, what I meant was birds eating up all the ants (impossible) and making them extinct.

Before we evolved the only time species have become extinct is due to natural disasters, such as the ice age but even though it still took a long ass time for it to happen as mammals began to eveolve (Mammoth!) which then died as the earth began to 'thaw out'.

[unlikely]

Really? Such as...?

well, up until recently this very forum was home to 7 species of Ashley, all extinct. Unless there is some kind of Lock Ness Ashley lurking in the depths....


seriously though, loads of animals became extinct before humans showed up. Its not like we launched the meteor that killed the dinosaurs (or that we even know thats what did it). Disease, floods, famine, ill advised migration, dominance of particular species, mutations that were previously advantageous becoming negative in new environments. There are loads of reasons and extinction is evolution in action.

[drokkr]

i thought the camel spider photo wasn't fake .....it was just perspective..

besides are don't care how big camel spiders are...have you seem one face to face? theyre nasty buggers

cant help my arsehole closing up to that:S

that thing looks like it can bark or something...