Solenodons in Canada?

Just after drawing a picture of a Canadian cryptid from the description, I noticed it looked very similar to a solenodon. The cryptid is called No-Kos-Ma.

It is obviously a unknown species of solenodon, but in Canada? All the known species live in places like Hispaniola and Cuba. It's strange that a creature that seems to be a endemic of the Carribbean, should be found in Canada. Even the extinct species seem to be Carribbean endemics.

hankerchief tree Davidia involucrata

I'm starting this new thing on my blog, where once a week, I write about a particular animal or plant. This week, I'd like to talk about the hankerchief tree, also known as ghost tree and dove tree. It was discovered in 1869, by the French botanist/missionary Pere David. It is the only member of the genus Davidia. It is native to China, and possibly other nearby countries, and is naturally found in temperate forest. It is counted on the Red List of 1997, as rare. Apparrently, they can be killed by honey fungus. It is a prehistoric plant, dating from the Tertiary period. There are two varieties, Davidia involucrata var. involucrata and Davidia involucrata var. vilmoriniana. They can be identified by differrences in the leaves. They can grow from seed, cuttings or long shoots that have been detached from the parent plant.

My word cloud

This is my word cloud - go here to make one.

Are Hedera helix and Hedera hibernicus the same?

Scientists say these two species of ivy are distinct species, but I have seen ivy looking very like both of these, growing on the same plant. There also appear to be leaves looking like mixes between the two, growing on exactly the same plant as the other leaves.

This appears to show that they are not separate species at all, but instead, subspecies or genetic variants of the same plant.

I have just planted some seeds of the ivy in question, whether they will look like Hedera helix, or Hedera hibernicus is probably just a matter of chance. I will just have to wait.

Giants of the Solomon Islands

I was reading this article about giants in the Solomon Islands. All of it sounds extremely convincing. Apparently, the giants had been causing havoc, devouring the local population for quite a while. That is until their leader stopped them, and started the Guadalcanal Giant Wars. Their leader is still seen, and even has discussions with people. You see, the local human population seems to have adopted the giant's language, which is also possibly spoken in Fiji. The giants appear to have some sort of hieroglyphic- like writing system. Skeletons of very large individuals can be found too. They also appear to be like Bigfoot, or Sasquatch. They seem to have long tails. Alleged giant's tombs can be found frequently in the islands. What's more, there appear to be people, who islanders claim have giant blood in their veins. They are all very tall and large, as one would expect from someone with giant heritage. Some have claimed that one of these people, can eat a whole pig whole.

This is a link to a good article about this subject: http://www.thesolomongiants.com/

Cormorants in unfamiliar enviroments?

I think I saw a cormorant in the trees near our house, but cormorants live by the sea. We live a long way for a cormorant to fly to. Then, there's the possibility that it was not a cormorant. A rare species of black heron is a possibility. We usually see a grey heron, so why not other herons in the surrounding area? If it is a heron, then is probably a migrant, as black herons are more common in mainland Europe, than Britain.

There's also the theory that it is some kind of cormorant-shaped crow. If it is, then it must be a new species. I think there might have been other sightings of this sort, so I will have find more information about them.

It maybe one of these, or something completely different. I may never know.

Animal language

Do animals have language? Well there's an easy question. Yes, they most certainly do. They use it to confer anxiety, happiness,unhappiness and pain. The general scientific opinion that animal languages are more simpler than human languages, is contradicted by independent research into prairie dog language, which seems to show that prairie dogs have a word for almost everything, and they create new words as well. There also seems to be different dialects for different groups of prairie dogs.

I was reading something which says true dogs only have ten sounds. I myself have to contradict this theory,as I've heard my dog Toby speaking definitely more than ten sounds. They have a lot of whining and barking sounds, mixed in with growling.

Cats also have their own language. It is full of mews, hisses and purring. Hello in Cat seems to be a mew.

Horses and donkeys each have their own individual language. Horse is full of neighing, snorting and whinnying. Snorting seems to be a sign of pain, or annoyance. Neighing seems to be a sign of greeting. Whinnying might be laughter. Donkey is full of ee-ores.

Early religion

It is believed religion started with the Neanderthals placing grave-goods in their graves. They have found a pair of deer antlers that they think was worn by a shaman or priest. That was Cromagnon though.Cave paintings show mysterious images of the hunt and a deer-like figure with horns that could be religious. Could the figure be connected with the pair of horns and also be a early depiction of the Celtic god Cernunnos?

Are we alone?

There are lots of reports of extraterrestial life, mostly in humanoid form. It is highly unlikely that we are alone in the universe. Current scientific theories seem to go for smaller, bacterial life, rather than humanoids. Several space-probes have been sent to the planet Mars, all apparrently inconclusive. Theories of silica life seem to say NASA has been ignoring important evidence, since there is silica on Mars.

The actual sightings are rather diverse,from creatures a bit like the Cybermen of Doctor Who to giant bigfoot-like creatures, as you would expect from aliens.

Conditions suitable for life are probably all over the solar system, from Mars to Enceladus, a moon of Saturn.

Do Neanderthals still exist?

Reports of living Neanderthals have come from around the globe. Some of them sound very convincing, their details fitting in nicely with the scientific description of Neanderthals.

The Almas or Almati is one of these. What makes it convincing is that in old Tibetan medicine books, it is shown by animals and plants that have been proven to exist. The medicine book says it lives in the rocks and mountains. A Turk was held prisoner and he said he saw what must have been wild mongolian horses. He said he saw some of possible Neanderthals. There have been several sightings since.

http://www.newanimal.org/neandertals.htm - it's quite a good site with lots of good information.

Early language part 2

It is not just brain power that makes you able to communicate complicated sounds to others. The shape of the throat and position of the tongue play a large, if not greater part in this. It is for that people think that later hominids, such as Neanderthals made much, more simpler sounds than our own. Contradicting this, a hyoid bone, a bone near the larynx and thus to do with speech found Israel, was found to be almost exactly identical to our own. The current theory is that they made quite high-pitched sounds, contrary to the popular low-grunting theory. Even with all this, they would not have spoken like us. Their tongue was positioned higher in the mouth and the pharynx, another part to do with speech was longer. Also the larynx, yet another part of the body to do with speech was slightly higher in the throat, and the nasal cavity was slightly different from our own.

Most researchers agree that trully modern speech appeared only with early modern man, but they can't agree on when. Some think 40,000 years ago, others disagree.

Early language

I think language evolved gradually from the alarm call of the early ape, to more complicated sounds. Certainly, hominids like Homo Ergastus had the brain power for more complicated language, whether they used it or not is another matter entirely.

star wars critters part 2

I also found out that Jawas and Tusken Raiders probably have the same ancestry. It makes sense, as they both live in the same enviroment, you never see the Tusken Raider's faces and you never see much of a Jawa's face anyway, apart from their yellow, glowing eyes.

Jawas are a race that sells droids for profit, even occasionally they will wreak someone's property, if they don't buy their merchandise. They move in sand-crawlers to escape the heat of the desert, and to avoid the Tusken Raiders. Although they usually are in sand-crawlers, you do get Jawa settlements.

Tusken Raiders are a race that steals for a living. They keep local, wild animals as pets. They have masks suited for their desert enviroment. Tuskens live in primitive houses covered in animal skins.

The Tuskens speak a very undiscernable language, full of growl and roar sounds. Hello in Tusken is aargh.

Jawa speak their language very quickly. Hello in Jawa is utini.

star wars critters

In the Empire strikes back, you see the pig-like Ugnaughts. I wonder if they're related to the Gammorrean guards in Jabba's Palace. If they are related, then why did one end up having green skin, and the other pink?

The Gammorreans are from the planet Gammorr. They live in a society ruled by the female sows. They are not known for their intelligence. Ever since their planet was discovered, they have been hired as guards for several criminal organisations.

The Ugnaughts are first seen working in Cloud City, over the gas giant Bespin. Not much else is said about them.

I also read that Ewoks and Wookies are distantly related. It must be very distant, because they don't look anything alike.

Ewoks are a teddie-bearish race from the forest moon of endor. According to C3pio, they speak a very primitive dialect . The language they are speaking is unknown.

Wookies are furry humanoids from the planet of Kashyyyk. Chewbacca was a famous member of this species. They speak two languages, Shriiwook and Xixacti.

Shriiwook is the main language spoken by Wookies. Wookies cannot speak Galactic Basic, due to the shape of their throat.

Xixacti is the language of the Wookies of the Wayland Islands on Kashyyyk. It was also used by the Wookie spy organisations during the time of the Empire.