Thread: vetrinary studies

I want to be a vet when I grow up and am interested in everything animals. If u want to discuss animals here hit me up.

The echidna has a four-headed penis. One must wonder why.

Originally Posted by free radical

The echidna has a four-headed penis. One must wonder why.

What a pimp!


At the moment I'm really interested in cephalopods. I just read that giant squids they have a tiny donut ring brain round their oesophagus. But since the oesophagus is so small if the ingest something too big, they get brain damage!

thats really cool yea. Most cephalopods have a sort of nebulous brain more like a cluster of neurons. due to the lack of brain density this allows for faster and quicker thinking though lower cognitive functions. octopi are very intelligent which I find cool. they learn from mistakes, solve problems, and display emotions. go out and read the Elephant and the Octopus. AWESOME BOOK

Pademelons! Just because they have a fun name.

But more seriously, I'm rather enamoured with gibbons lately. They're the only ape who at full adult size a human can hold in their arms. They have ridiculous long arms, so during those rare times when they are on the ground they tend to walk upright because they're too awkward to walk quadrupedally. Compared to other apes they have tiny front teeth, so they don't like to eat large fruits that need to be peeled - they prefer little ones that they can pop whole into their mouths. And many of them are sexually dichromatic - males and females are different colors.

hmm...animal fact... The blue coral snake has venom glands a third the length of its entire body.

uhhh I'd nominate some amazing animals:

Aedes aegypticus and members of the Culex genus- best insect (or overall) vectors of disease alive today and in the recent past.

http://www.mnh.si.edu/cephs/vetal01/vetal01.html
This cephalopod is surely a candidate for it's morphology alone- it's even distinct from other cephalopods!

GERROTHORAX
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...aur-photo.html

What about Tardigrades mmm? Their dormant stage is wonderous.

Phorusrhachus and Titanis are pretty badass in their ability to be 12 feet tall and also carnivorous birds.


Okay and tell me I'm not the only one to think elephants are extremely cool? Especially Platybelodon.

This list can go on and on and on.

Also, for sharks, check out Stethacanthus or Helicoprion

PARALITH the gibbon at our local zoo is rumored to be pregnant...

There is this cricket creature that is as big as ur hand!! the thing is a foot long I believe and it weighs 2.5oz !!! I forget what its called though. Theoretically it shouldn't be that big because insects, spiders, and scorpions cannot support heavy exoskeletons. This is why we will never see a spider the size of a human.

Originally Posted by the man of science

There is this cricket creature that is as big as ur hand!! the thing is a foot long I believe and it weighs 20 pounds!!! I forget what its called though. Theoretically it shouldn't be that big because insects, spiders, and scorpions cannot support heavy exoskeletons. This is why we will never see a spider the size of a human.

I think the tecnical term for it is "make belief" but I'm sure there are synonyms.


Seriously though they don't get THAT big these days (or any days). 20 lbs is really really heavy for an arthropod, unless you are aquatic. Speaking of giant arthropods, you might like Brontoscorpius and the modern giant isopods from the arctic waters.

Also, just an FYI: the reason that arthropods are smaller is because they have a passive breathing system, excluding spiders' book lungs. So, they can't draw in oxygen nearly as efficiently as a vertebrate, hence the difference in size. Colder water has higher oxygen content though, so look there if you wanna find some giant arthropods.

Also the wombat has open rooted molars.

uh... ur right about the breathing thing but its mainly about the exoskeleton situation. and yes there is a cricket that weighs 2.5oz. I think its called a wagu or something obscure like that. It lives in New Zealand in the mountains where its very cold and it undergoes suspended animation during the winter.

Reference please, or the cricket doesn't exist.


Actually, it IS about the oxygen thing. Re: Carboniferous.

Dragonflies, spiders and myriapods all have a history of being much larger when the oxygen content is up. Coincidence?

Originally Posted by the man of science

uh... ur right about the breathing thing but its mainly about the exoskeleton situation. and yes there is a cricket that weighs 20 pounds. I think its called a wagu or something obscure like that. It lives in New Zealand in the mountains where its very cold and it undergoes suspended animation during the winter.

I think you are referring to the Giant wetas of New Zealand, which is one of the heaviest insects alive, though it only reaches weights of around 2.5oz, or slightly heavier then a sparrow.

Originally Posted by Paleoichneum

Originally Posted by the man of science

uh... ur right about the breathing thing but its mainly about the exoskeleton situation. and yes there is a cricket that weighs 20 pounds. I think its called a wagu or something obscure like that. It lives in New Zealand in the mountains where its very cold and it undergoes suspended animation during the winter.

I think you are referring to the Giant wetas of New Zealand, which is one of the heaviest insects alive, though it only reaches weights of around 2.5oz, or slightly heavier then a sparrow.

Yup thats it the weta. looks like I was way off on the weight. 2.5oz makes more sense. I don't know where I came up with 20 pounds. But yea those things are tight! I will edit my previous statement.

directed at Mormoopid: I looked it up and yea u were right about the breathing thing although the exoskeleton is a huge size limiting factor as well. But when the dinosaurs came around there was significantly less oxygen and insects shrank to the size they are today. Aquatic insects are bigger because there is more oxygen in the water and water allows for greater weight support.

exoskeleton is a huge size limiting factor as well

Yes but if the carboniferous is any indicator, we are nowhere near that in modern times.

But when the dinosaurs came around there was significantly less oxygen

Funny, one of the ideas for runaway dinosaur growth is higher oxygen content. Maybe your source was mistaken.

Aquatic insects are bigger because there is more oxygen in the water and water allows for greater weight support.

Actually this depends heavily on the environment. Cold water has higher oxygen content so it allows for larger arthorpods as a general rule. Interesting that the only major limiting factor on arthropod size in extremely rich ecosystems like reefs is the lack of oxygen in the warmer waters.

Weight support has nothing to do with anything, really, when you compare oxygen content in various waters; a great many groups have reached outrageous size in the water while still being air breathers.

yes I agree again but part of the reason why blue whales are so frickin big is because the water supports and carries them. If they were land creatures they would probably be crushed under their own weight. To comment on ur beliefs about dinosaurs the theory is that there was alot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which as we know, allowed plants to thrive and dominate the surface of the planet. all these plants allowed an almost limitless source of food for herbivores. herbivores got big which allowed for big carnivores.

I have been giving it some thought and I wonder if you might have been thinking of several arthropods at once.

If you have heard of the Japanese Spider crab , that may be where the 20kg figure is from. This crab, found only on the Pacific side of ht Japanese archipelago can reach up to 20kg in weight and have legs with a 13ft spread.

Now combine this with the information that some of the largest land insects are the wetas of New Zealand.

Mix well..and now you have 20lb Crickets from Kiwiland.

BTW it isn't considered polite to alter posts to much as it isn't reported to those watching the thread and the responses to the post usually don't make too much sense after.

Cheers

Oh sorry! I figured I would correct it due to my mistake.