Wednesday, July 29
To paraphrase marine biologists Ron and Valerie Taylor: "Lions eat people, and man calls them King of the Jungle. Sharks eat people, and people declare war."
so true. read this off a blog from a link i got from whysharksmatter. and its so true. compared to other causes of death, sharks dun seem to be killing much ppl per year, yet they are discriminated against and killed (mostly for their fins. i think they're using "sharks are killers" as excuses) stuff like cancer, heart attacks, bees, mosquitos, lightning, etc etc kills A LOT more ppl than sharks do. admittedly, we cant drive mosquitos, bees, and the various viruses to extinction, and incidents like being struck by lightning cant be controlled, but lets consider other animals. wat about snakes? they kill a lot more ppl than sharks, n they're worshipped in certain cultures and religion (no offense to any). and dogs? they too kill many ppl, yet they're called "man's best friend".... hmm.. the lion's example speaks for itself [look at above quote]
oh. n sharks are being wiped out by (estimated) 40mil per year. [estimates varies from 10mil-100mil] n tats not considering the amt killed illegally/not recorded/not publicised by the authorities. n tats just for their fins. [makes one wonder, which is the real killer, sharks? or humans?]
dolphin friendly tuna is only friendly to dolphins. the most cost-efficient n practical way to catch tuna results in a very large amount of bycatch. n this includes hundreds of sharks, turtles, various fishes (tat are not meant to be caught), rays, n baby fish amongst many others. so the only thing dolphin friendly methods are "friendly" to are dolphins. n they're not even endangered. (n many of the bycatch are)ya, dolphins are cute. i totally agree. but looking at the statistics is just saddening.
sharks are awesome.
just discovered that male platypuses actually have venom! they secrete it from glands located at their hind feet.
another amazing fact?
i checked up on calico cats (mentioned in bio lecture) n its true! calico cats (or cats with tortoiseshell colouring) are mostly females! this is bcos the primary gene for coat colour is located on the X chromosome n has 2 co-dominant alleles (orange and black) [females have 2 X chromosomes (XX)] usually one of the allele is inactivated, but in the case of calico cats, the 2 cell types become intermingled n voila! calico cats. male cats cant have tat colouring cos they only have 1 X chromosome(XY). but when male cats have tis colouring, they're (almost) always sterile, cos they have a condition known in humans as Klinefelter syndrome, meaning they have 2 Xchromosomes (ie XXY)the inbalance in sex chromosomes causes them to be infertile.
wow. genetics variation can be so cool. =)
k, i know this post is super random. shoot. why am i blogging about sharks n platypuses n calico cats when i should be doing work?! dang it. i got bio file, and chinese file, and chem test. all due tmr. (bio was today but heck) n math test the following day. done nada for all. xP
i'm weird. xP
Thanks to all the blogs i referred to (countless) for html code help :) (esp. cyn' and sixseven)
Adobe Photoshop Elements for supernatural abilities
