Flesh-eating parasitic screwworms

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/10/flesh-eating-screwworms-are-feasting-on-pets-4-dogs-and-cat-attacked-this-week/?utm_source=bsky&utm_medium=social
Flesh-eating screwworms spread to third state and are attacking pets.

USDA has identified 74 animal cases in US since parasitic flies invaded in June.

WE KILLED A BEAR

My mother grew up in New Boston (Linn County), Missouri. My mother's side of the family has called Missouri home for several generations. That said, I grew up frequently hearing the expression... "We killed a bear."

I argued with AI for several minutes... as it proceeded to tell me that this expression does not exist and that perhaps I had it mixed up with another expression... one recorded in available resources. Wow, AI, a bit of an arrogant a-hole, aren't you?

Anyway, after I explained to AI what the expression meant, when it was said to me, and where I am from... AI came around and agreed that it is an expression that makes perfect sense to someone with historic roots to Missouri.

"We killed a bear."

When a person is bragging about something minor they did... inflating an accomplishment into something heroic, "We killed a bear" is a way of bringing them down a peg by implying "that bar is already set, and you're not even close ---stop. You can't out-brag a bear kill."

Killing a bear is the ultimate hunting trophy. Historically, Missouri had a deep bear-hunting culture. Black bears were once abundant here, second only to deer in what pioneers harvested, and a successful bear kill was a genuinely significant accomplishment to someone from Missouri. The Missouri Department of Conversation notes that "second only to deer, bears were the most common animal harvested by pioneers and travelers," and that many early county histories contain reports of remarkable bear numbers.

Bears were hunted to near-extinction by the early 1900s, and Missouri didn't have a regulated bear season again until 2021. So the phrase likely dates from a time when the accomplishment was still a living memory in the culture, and it stuck as a family/regional expression long after bear hunting faded from everyday life. I can still hear my mother's voice... measuring out each word slowly. "Well... we... killed... a ... bear." (Never "I", only "we".)

Oh, and I have never killed a bear, either. 

Chadokuga

The chadokuga (チャドクガ, literally "tea poison moth"), Euproctis pseudoconspersa (tea tussock moth, family Lymantriidae), is a Japanese moth whose caterpillars are a notorious local hazard.  The final-instar larva is about 27 mm long, pale yellow-brown with a row of black tubercles and a white lateral stripe, and it lives in groups, neatly lined up feeding on the leaves of tea (Camellia sinensis) and other Camellia-family plants such as camellia and osmanthus. Its real danger is not the visible long hairs but 300,000–500,000 microscopic barbed stinging setae (about 0.1 mm each) clustered on the black tubercles. These detach on contact with skin or clothing — or drift on the wind — and cause painful, itchy dermatitis, with welts appearing within 2–3 hours and a delayed rash 1–2 days later. The stinging hairs persist on eggs, cocoons, shed skins, and even the adult female's tail, so people can be stung during winter pruning without realizing it.

Key facts:

• Distribution: Japan (Honshu southward), plus Korea, China, and Taiwan
• Generations: two per year; larvae emerge April–May and August–September; adults in June–July and October
• Overwintering stage: eggs

•Treatment: peel off embedded hairs with tape, wash with soap and water, and see a dermatologist if itching persists

A Mosquito Drinking the Blood of a Fer-de_Lance

The fer-de-lance (Bothrops asper) is widely considered the most dangerous snake in the Americas, responsible for 50–80% of all snakebites in Central and northern South America.  Its venom is hemotoxic, causing severe tissue necrosis, internal bleeding, and potential organ failure; while untreated mortality was historically 10%, modern antivenom has reduced fatality rates to less than 1%. 

However, survivors frequently suffer gangrene and amputation due to the venom's tissue-destroying effects. 

Geographically, this pit viper is found from southern Mexico to northern South America, including countries like Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela. 

It thrives in tropical rainforests, plantations, and areas near human habitation, often hiding in leaf litter or undergrowth where it can easily encounter people. Its aggressive defensive nature and proximity to human settlements make it particularly lethal compared to other venomous species.

Pumpkin with a possum...

or is it a possum with a pumpkin? You decide.

Which is your favorite?

Images emailed to me by a long-time reader. When he gives me permission to post his user name, I will post it here.
 

Hairless guinea pigs

I was at PetCo recently and discovered some odd news regarding the hairless guinea pigs in their store. Apparently, PetCo only carries hairless females (at least at this location.) It seems that some parents complained that the junk dangling from the hairless male variety is too large and too shocking for tender young eyes. I find this puzzling... since many pet owners often bring their large male dogs into the store with junk the size of rearview mirror fuzzy dice. I guess seeing the genitalia of hairless guinea pigs isn't comparable to a Great Dane scooby-doing around the store.

I can understand separating males from females in the store (to avoid mating), but banning male hairless guinea pigs from the store because they have big cojones just seems silly. BTW, hairless guinea pigs cost $199, whereas hairy guinea pigs are around $24.

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Horse hoof restoration

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Can Dogs Smell/Tell Time?

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Bunnies during the Middle Ages

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A light at the end of a frog...

With readers like mine, it's easy to have an interesting blog. Here's a tip from reader extraordinaire... Randy_B.

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"I follow an author named Ursula Vernon (who also writes as T. Kingfisher) and she recently won a Hugo award for Best Novel.  She wasn't at the awards ceremony but here's her acceptance "speech" which was read out by a friend:

Hello, everyone! If you’re reading this, Nettle & Bone just won a Hugo. I am genuinely sorry that I can’t be there in person to accept, both because…well…Hugo Award and because China has some of the best food of any country I’ve ever visited. I have eaten foods on a stick there that would make strong men weep.

Wow. I did not expect this. This is the honor of a lifetime, and I’m only 46! Thank you so much to the readers who thought Nettle & Bone was worthy of a Hugo.

No book gets written alone, of course. Thank you to my editor Lindsey Hall, the whole crew at Tor, my agent Helen, and my husband Kevin, who makes sure that I have actual meals and clean underwear and so forth.

There are a lot of serious and heavy things I could say right now, and probably I should. But other people have said them better and more movingly than I ever will. So instead I want to share something wonderful and disgusting and maybe a little inspiring with you.

There is a species of water beetle that regularly gets swallowed whole by frogs. And while there’s a lot of things you can do to keep from being eaten, once you’re inside a frog, your options are severely limited. Generally you get digested. But this particular species of beetle said “You know, I bet there’s another way.” And it started walking. In fact, it walked through the frog’s digestive tract and out the back end.

This is 100% true, you can look it up. 19 out of 20 of these beetles will simply walk out of the frog, unharmed. It usually takes them about an hour, although one beetle speed-ran the frog in five minutes, which I’m sure was very exciting for the frog.

The moral of this story, if there is one, is that no matter how dark the situation, there is always a way through. And there’s always a light at the end of the frog."

Here's an Ars Technica article about the speech and the phenomenon:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/10/hugo-winner-reminds-us-all-about-that-beetle-that-escapes-out-of-a-frogs-anus/

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Dave Whamond's new pup

His name is Reuben. Find out why this is a great name for a cartoonist's dog. "Reality Check" and "Day by Dave".

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Panulirus ornatus

This lobster looks like part of a Gustav Klimt painting.

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Melanistic fox

Melanistic fox with sibling

A cross fox is a melanistic variant of the red fox, a fox with an orange coat mixed with dark stripes that run down their back and intersect across their shoulders. They make up about 30% of the Canadian red fox population.

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Kulning

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Frederik the Great

Frederik the Great is a Friesian stallion that lives in Arkansas's Ozark Mountains. He was imported to this farm from the Netherlands when he was six years old. In May 2016, he became known for unofficially being the "world's most handsome horse."

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Pony's hooves

 

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Baby flying foxes

 

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Ruby-tailed wasp

 

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Goblin shark

This goblin shark looks a lot like a piñata to me. I wonder how "fresh" he is.

The goblin shark (Mitsukurina owstoni) is a rare, little known species of deep-sea shark. Sometimes called a "living fossil", it is the only extant representative of the family Mitsukurinidae, a lineage some 125 million years old. This species looks unlike any other shark, with a long flattened snout, highly protrusible jaws containing prominent nail-like teeth, and pink coloration. It is usually between three and four meters (10–13 ft) long when mature, though can grow considerably larger. Goblin sharks inhabit upper continental slopes, submarine canyons, and seamounts around the world at depths greater than 100 m (330 ft), with adults found deeper than juveniles.

Various anatomical features of the goblin shark, such as its flabby body and small fins, suggest that it is sluggish in nature. This species hunts for teleost fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans both near the sea floor and in the middle of the water column. Its long snout is covered with ampullae of Lorenzini that enable it to sense minute electric fields produced by nearby prey, which it can snatch up by rapidly extending its jaws. Small numbers of goblin sharks are unintentionally caught by deepwater fisheries. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as Least Concern, citing its wide distribution and low incidence of capture.

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