Return of the Giant Jellyfishes!

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No, it's not the title of a trash-horror b-movie but something that happens every years in Japan and is actually happening right now. They are the  Nomura's Giant Jellifishes, "Echizen Kurage" for the japanese, (Nemopilema nomurai). They can grow up to 2 meters (6 ft. 7 in.) in diameter and weigh up to 200 kilograms (440 lb.) each. While stings of this large jellyfish are painful, they are not usually toxic enough to cause serious harm in humans. However, the jellyfish's sting has been reported as fatal in some cases by causing a build-up of fluid in the lungs. As a precaution, fisherman encountering these jellyfish wear eye protection and protective clothes. To date there have only been eight reported deaths from the Nomura's sting. However their increasing number is becoming a serious problem for the Japanese Fishermen which more and more often find huge density of these animals, one hundred times higher than normal. Often the weight of the echizen kurage broke the nets or crushed the fish to death; those that survived were poisoned and beslimed by their tentacles.


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(Asahi Shimbun/Tetsuji Asano/AP)

Hammerhead Sharks on the road to extinction

Hammerhead Sharks on the road to extinction

 

 

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Copyright Greenpeace
A Hammered Shark drowned in driftnet followed by sukerfish, the classical photo that tells you much more than thousand words..

Scientists have revealed that nine new species of sharks are to be added to the official list of animals at global risk of extinction. In particular the  hammerhead shark had seen its population reduced by 99%(!!!) in the last few years, due to overfishing. Sharks' fins are highly prized as a delicacy in Chinese cooking, and prices can reach as much as £150 per kg. An estimated 100 million sharks are killed every year, with many fishermen simply slicing off their fins before throwing them back into the water where they usually drown or bleed to death.

As usual I just could post a gallery with some good pictures found on the web to show to the all of us what incredible animals we are seriously risking to lose for ever:


Photo Charles Hood/oceanimage.com


Photo Brian J. Skerry





When they swim in shoals, Hammerhead Sharks are one of the most impressive natural wonders:



Photo Eric H. Cheng

we've started this post with a beautiful image of an horrible thing and we close it in the same way with three (quite disturbing) pictures:

a Hammerhead Shark with seven cubs


a Hammerhead Shark Fin


finned sharks die slowly in the water

Botos, the amazon river dolphins that shapeshifted into handsome young men

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Photograph by Kevin Schafer

The  Amazon River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis), which in Brazil is known as "Boto", is a freshwater river dolphin endemic to the  Orinoco,  Amazon and Araguaia/Tocantins River systems of Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela. It is the largest of the  river dolphins. The neck vertebrae of the  Amazon River Dolphin are not fused together, and therefore the Boto is able to bend its neck in a 90 degree angle to its body, and skillfully hunt fish in the flooded forest.


Photograph by Kevin Schafer

In a traditional Amazon River myth, at night an Amazon River Dolphin becomes a handsome young man who seduces girls, impregnates them, then returns to the river in the morning to become an Amazon River Dolphin again. This dolphin shapeshifter is called an "encantado" and their golden underwater world is called "Encante". This tea-like brew of silt and rotting vegetation make the Botos seem to glow orange underwater while they are actually grey and pink. Their mythical status may have been shielded them from exploitation, however the the growing use of gill nets, which can entrap and quickly kill dolphins, and the always rising exploitation of the Amzon Forest are quickly becoming a rising menace for them.


Photograph by Kevin Schafer

National Geographic Photographer Kevin Schafer has made this wonderful reportage about these amazing and playful animals. Click here to see the whole National Geographic gallery and for any further info.


Photograph by Kevin Schafer

Photograph by Kevin Schafer

Photograph by Kevin Schafer

Photograph by Kevin Schafer

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Smithsonian Museum of Natural History Hall of Human Origins

Starting with a cast skull, artist John Gurche builds layers of muscle, fat, and skin to create hyper-realistic busts of human ancestors for the museum. Pictured:Australopithecus afarensis, which lived about 3.3 million years ago.

Another bust, this one of Homo neanderthalensis, which lived from about 200,000 years ago to as recently as 28,000 years ago.

This 30,000-year-old handprint from Chauvet Cave in France was made by mixing pigment with saliva inside the mouth and blowing the mixture onto a cave wall.  It is featured in the exhibit

Five fossil human skulls show how the shape of the face and braincase of early humans changed over the past 2.5 million years. (from left to right: Australopithecus africanus, 2.5 million years old; Homo rudolfensis, 1.9 million years old;  Homo erectus, ~ 1 million years old;Homo heidelbergensis, ~350,000 years old;  Homo sapiens, ~ 4,800 years old)

Myth-ing you already

WITH huge mythical creatures and state-of-the- art 3D effects, it was always going to be a box office smash.

The epic new Clash Of The Titans movie, out next week, is a surefire hit... but doesn't it all seem a bit familiar?

While anyone under the age of 35 will gasp in wonder as Avatar star Sam Worthington battles fearsome monsters, those older may have seen it all before, albeit in a slightly less sophisticated form

Clash Of The Titans
Hero ... Harry Hamlin's Perseus in 1981 Clash Of The Titans and Sam Worthington, right, in 2010 version

And you can certainly play spot-th

And you can certainly play spot-the-difference here, with shots of the 1981 original alongside the sparkling new remake, which arrives in cinemas on Friday next week.



The new visuals are a lot more lifelike than those created by legendary animator Ray Harryhausen in the 1981 original. The creatures in the first Clash were models which were filmed, moved, then filmed again, called stop-motion.

These days the latest computer techniques bring the mythology to life.

Worthington plays demigod Perseus and he is joined by Liam Neeson as Zeus, Gemma Arterton as priestess Io, Ralph Fiennes as Hades and Jason Flemyng as Calibos.

Perseus takes on many terrifying creatures including the Kraken, scorpiochs, harpies and Medusa.

Read more about these beasties on the right.

Sam said: "People remember the old one but we ramped it up to 11. It's a lot of fun - a bunch of guys in dresses. Big scorpions, big monsters, a bunch of guys killing stuff. "

When a turtle goes punk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

I know what you're just thinking..... this turtle is a Punk-Rock star!!!
The australian amateur photographer Chris Van Wyk was snorkeling in the  Mary River, a river system in South East Queensland, Australia, when met this beauty and didn't lose the cance to take some amazing shots.
Some weeds have grown on the head of this  Mary River Turtle creating the illusion of a green crest that could make even a Sex Pistols really envious...
Click here to see the whole Chris Van Wyk's Flickr Gallery

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Photo by Chris Van Wyk

Now, maybe, you're wondering why I've added the second part of the title.
Well,  Mary River Turtle Elusor macrurus is an endangered species, and, as you may guess from its name, it inhabits just the  Mary River. The problem is that the Queensland Government announced on April 27, 2006 its intention to dam the Mary River, a project that could have dreadful consequencies on the survival of three endangered species,  Mary River Turtle, the Queensland_Lungfish and the  Mary River Cod, which have in that area their only remaining habitat. To get more info about this issue visit SAVETHEMARYRIVER