May 9, 2017
The Neatest Little Paper Ever Read®
Issue 00317
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There are many instances where yuckiness is not only a way of life, but also a means of survival for members of the animal kingdom. Come along with Tidbits as we take a look at icky but functional items of interest in the world of animals. WARNING: This material is intended for kids age 12 or under, so you’re only allowed to read this issue if you’re a kid, or know a kid, or have ever been a kid.
GROSS MEALS • Sloths inhabit the treetops of Central and South America where they eat leaves. Leaves contain little nutrition so the sloth conserves energy by moving very slowly. It moves so little, in fact, that algae grows on its fur. This offers two advantages: first, it disguises the sloth so it’s harder for predators to spot. Second, it offers a handy snack, and sloths can often be seen eating the mossy stuff that grows on their fur. • The super-size frigate bird is an aerial acrobat capable of skimming the surface of the ocean and snatching fish out of the water. But it also has another talent: it can spot other birds that have recently eaten. It then attacks them in mid-flight. The bird under attack will often cough up its catch, and the frigate bird snatches the regurgitated fish before it hits the water. • Many species of mammals play host to moths that feed from their tears. Elephants, buffalo, horses, pigs, and deer each have a particular type of moth that lands on the creature’s eyes while they sleep, and slurps tears. Tears contain water, salt, and proteins, offering a nice package of nutrition. Most types of moth are able to steal a meal without the host ever noticing, but one species deliberately scratches the animal’s eyeball, in order to increase the flow of tears.
My dog ate a bowl of alphabet soup yesterday. Today he had a big vowel movement.
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• Frogs need to shed their skin as they grow just more imposing animal, and the predator is like snakes do. But a frog skin is full of protein often scared away. and shouldn’t be wasted. While struggling to pull off the skin, a frog will get a piece of it in its • A bird called the rainbow pitta is native to Australia. It’s a strikingly beautiful bird with mouth, and then start munching, swallowing brightly colored plumage. It builds its footballthe entire skin. shaped nest in the forest with a bird-size hole • Caecilians are a type of amphibian found for an entrance. But the eggs are often eaten in tropical areas. One species called by snakes, which are able to smell the eggs “Bourlengerula taitanus” has an unusual from a distance. To protect against this, the method of feeding offspring. The female pitta collects wallaby dung. Wallabies are lays her eggs and then curls around them, marsupials related to the kangaroo. The pitta protecting them until they hatch. When they knows that with a pile of poop at the doorstep, hatch, the babies begin to bite the mother, snakes are unable to smell the eggs inside. ripping off the outer layer of her skin and eating it. The mother grows this extra layer of skin for • The fulmar looks like a big seagull. Its name means “foul gull” because of its habit of the express purpose of feeding her young. The vomiting on predators. The vomit is yellow, process doesn’t seem to bother her or harm oily, smelly, and dries quickly. Once it’s her. The practice is called dermatotrophy. dried on the feathers of a predatory bird, it • Some types of birds deliberately encourage one inhibits the bird’s ability to fly. The vomit of their chicks to cannibalize its sibling. This can be projected with precision accuracy. A behavior is particularly common among birds newly hatched fulmar just four days old can of prey. Two eggs will be laid in the nest; two projectile vomit up to 18 inches, and mature chicks will hatch; but the parents will favor the birds can do four times that distance. Ospreys, strongest chick, who harasses the weaker chick eagles, and skuas trying to raid an unattended until it dies. Then the surviving chick makes a nest are showered with this goo and quickly meal of its weaker sibling. This offers the birds learn to stay away. the best chance of raising at least one healthy offspring to adulthood. The second chick serves • The nacunda nighthawk lives on the plains of Brazil where there is little cover. The bird as little more than an insurance policy in case camouflages itself by imitating a pile of cow something happens to the first chick.
REVOLTING DEFENSES • Many species of lizards are able to detach their tails when under attack. Because the tail continues to wiggle, it attracts the attention of the predator while the lizard escapes. But one species called the glass lizard goes even farther. When its tail detaches, it splinters into several pieces, like shattering glass. Each individual piece wriggles and writhes while the lizard itself freezes in place. • The fieldfare is a type of thrush that lives in Europe. They nest in colonies, finding safety in numbers. When one of the birds spots a threat, such as a magpie trying to steal eggs, it will sound an alarm, which spreads throughout the flock. Then they swarm the predator, dropping poop bombs over its head with amazing accuracy. The interloper is soon covered with fieldfare feces, convincing it to leave the area. • The Sonoran coral snake and the western hooknose snake share two things in common: first, they are too small to scare away larger predators. Second, they have each developed a method of scaring away predators by farting loudly. It’s not that the farts smell bad; it’s that they are so loud. The snakes use special muscles that compress a bubble of air, and then they release it suddenly. The resulting pop sounds like it came from a much larger and
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info@TidbitsVernon.com The Neatest Little Paper Ever Read® Call Today (250) 832-3361 the Kalahari Desert do the same thing, using two types of oil excreted from glands in their rear. One is a white paste that remains smelly for weeks. This is a chemical warning to other hyenas that the territory is spoken for. The other is a black oily bead that remains smelly for only a few hours. This is a sign post to other hyenas in their clan that the area has recently been patrolled. If the black bead still stinks, other hyenas know it’s been patrolled recently and there’s probably no food around. If the smell is fading, they know it’s worth having another look around. Amazing Plants
KILLER SEAWEED
1. What kind of bird can store food in its stomach for weeks? 2. What kind of bird heaps dung at the entrance to its nest as a lure? 3. How does the Gila monster cool itself down? 4. How does the hagfish repel potential predators? 5. This insect holds a record for exponential growth rate.
dung. When the nocturnal bird wants to spend the day resting, it crouches on the ground and the wings look like cow flop. But the birds have been doing this for thousands of years, and cows have only recently been introduced to Brazil. In fact, there is no large animal anywhere in the area that leaves a pile a dung behind that looks like a cow pie. How did the bird develop this method of camouflage? Long ago, giant sloths and great armadillos roamed this region before going extinct. The bird’s camouflage may be an imitation of what their dung looked like. • Most dogs mark their territory. Hyenas in
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• In 1980 workers at a zoo in Germany noticed an inordinately impressive strain of tropical seaweed growing in their aquarium. Called “Caulerpa taxifolia” it was a common seaweed, but this strain had mutated after being exposed to chemicals, grown under ultraviolet lights, and being selectively bred. The resulting strain was particularly tough and lush. • Other zoos wanted to try it in their aquariums, and a sample was even shipped to Jacques Cousteau’s Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. In 1984, a worker cleaning the tanks dumped some waste into the open ocean. • A few years later, a French biologist noted a large patch of this mutated seaweed growing vigorously near the museum. He was surprised to see a tropical seaweed growing in the cold waters off the coast of France. He warned his colleagues that the seaweed could become an invasive species. Over the course of the next few years, his fears were realized. Soon it had been found at 68 different places around the planet where it wouldn’t ordinarily grow. • The plant gets its name from a toxin called caulerpenin that kills fish. This prevents marine animals from nibbling on it, allowing it to grow quickly. It provides little in the way of useful habitat for marine creatures. It grows so thickly on the ocean floor that it chokes out other aquatic life. Because of this, it was given the nickname of “killer seaweed.” • It clogs waterways, and reproduces whenever one part of the plant breaks off and drifts away, establishing a whole new colony wherever it
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takes root. When it gets tangled up in the propellers of boats, caught in fishing nets, or sucked into the ballast tank of ocean liners, it can be carried long distances, and chopping up the plant into little bits just allows it to spread even more quickly. • It can grow up to an inch per day, can survive temperatures between 5789 F (14 - 32 C) and can grow at depths of up to 100 feet (30m). • On the bright side, however, the plant is able to absorb and neutralize pollutants and toxins in the water. • The municipality of San Diego was once able to kill off a large patch of it by covering it with a giant tarp weighted down with sand bags and pumping chlorine into the 11,000 square-foot patch. This killed everything under the tarp, but it took care of the problem. • This seaweed has often been sold in pet stores to stock fish tanks with a hardy plant that can easily thrive in home aquariums. There is now a federal law under the Noxious Weed Act forbidding interstate sale and transport of the strain. • Researchers at the University of Nice in France have been studying a tiny aquatic slug which is a natural predator of the plant. This sea slug is native to the warm waters off the coast of Florida. It feeds exclusively on the seaweed by sucking out the liquid inside the stem. This particular type of slug is able to absorb and neutralize the seaweed’s poison, and the poison protects the slug from being eaten by other sea creatures.
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However, this slug cannot survive in the cooler waters of the Mediterranean and, therefore, is unable to control the invasive algae there. Interestingly, Caulerpa taxifolia is world’s largest single-celled organism, with a single cell measuring between six and twelve inches (15-30 cm). It’s now on the list of the world’s 100 most invasive species. STRAWS Marvin Stone manufactured paper cigarette holders in 1888. His factory was located in Washington, DC. After a long day at work he would often walk down to the local bar and have a cool refreshing mint julep, his favorite drink. Making a mint julep was a skill, and it was essential to keep the drink as cold as it could be. A warm mint julep loses all its appeal. In order to keep their body heat from warming the drink, people would sip the drink through a grass straw so their hand wouldn’t touch the glass. The straws were cut from common rye grass, but it tended to make the drink taste like rye grass as well. Also, the grass straws tended to crack and split, dropping pieces into the drink. They would get soggy and soft after being wet for very long. Marvin Stone, working with paper all day as he did, got the idea for making drinking straws from paper. He made the first batch of straws by winding a thin strip of paper around a pencil and gluing it. He gave some to the bartender, and patrons liked them a lot. Next he designed a longer straw with a diameter just small enough to prevent a lemon seed from passing through, and people started sucking lemonade through them. Then he experimented with paraffin-coated manila paper so the straws did not become soggy and so the glue would not dissolve in alcoholic drinks. He patented the product and by 1890 most of the employees at his factory were making straws instead of cigarette holders. Demand
1. Why do snakes swallow their prey head first? 2. How many species of bugs feed on the blood of animals?
ASHPITUMPOOP This animal uses the whirling motion of its tail to fling its droppings widely in order to mark its territory.
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increased so fast that Stone had to expand his factory a number of times. He went on to invent a pencil sharpener and fountain pen holder, but nothing sold like his drinking straw. Marvin Stone died in 1898. In 1906 at Marvin Stone’s factory, the first machine was invented to make straws, and the same machine was later adapted to make all kinds of paper tubes such as those in the center of paper towel rolls. Joseph B. Friedman made the next big improvement in straws when he noticed his young daughter having trouble drinking out of a straight straw at a soda fountain in California. He put a screw into the straw and wound a thread around the grooves of the screw. When he removed the screw, the straw was corrugated and easily bent at an angle, making it easier for his young daughter to reach. He patented this jointed straw in 1937. He tried to interest several straw manufacturers in the new design, without success. So he collected investments from friends and family, waited until World War II was over, and then set up his own straw factory. He was in business by the late 1940s. His biggest customers were hospitals because the jointed straw made it easier for bed-bound patients to have a drink. The bendy straw has been popular ever since. The oldest drinking straw ever found was discovered in a Sumerian tomb dating back to 3000 B.C.E. It’s made of gold and decorated with semi-precious stones. Americans use and throw away about 500 million straws per day. McDonald’s uses about 60 million of them per day worldwide. Plastic straws will remain in the environment for around 200 years. They cannot be recycled. During annual beach clean-up days, straws are one of the most common items found.
“Eat like a bird; poop like an elephant.” -Guy Kawasaki
Sweet Potato Fries If you love sweet potatoes like I do, try these fries. You’re in for a real treat. 2 tablespoons thawed orange juice concentrate 1 teaspoon onion powder 1/2 teaspoon table salt 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2inch sticks 1. Heat oven to 375 F. Spray a large baking pan with butter-flavored cooking spray. 2. In a large bowl, combine orange juice concentrate, onion powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Add potato sticks. Mix well to coat. 3. Arrange coated potato sticks on prepared baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes; turn carefully and continue baking for 10 minutes more or until tender. Divide into 4 servings. * Each serving equals: 80 calories, 0g fat, 1g protein, 19g carbs, 322mg sodium, 36mg calcium, 3g fiber; Diabetic Exchanges: 1 Starch; Carb Choices: 1. (c) 2017 King Features Synd., Inc.
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by Samantha Weaver * It was American novelist and activist Anne Lamott who made the following sage observation: “Joy is the best makeup.” * Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie was determined not to get married so long as his mother was alive. He stuck to his decision, too -- the same year that his mother died, Carnegie finally wed at the age of 51. When his daughter was born the following year, Carnegie bestowed his mother’s name on her. The V.J.H. Auxiliary Gift Shop, has many new handmade items and lovely knit children’s sweaters. Also, our beautiful floral arrangements. Small or medium vases are gratefully accepted, just drop them off at the gift shop. Come and check us out. Our shop is totally run by auxiliary volunteers and all money raised goes to the hospital for needed equipment and patient comfort. Thanks for your patronage.
* In 2014, it became illegal in Russia to use profanity in the theater, in films and at other cultural events. * Before American music icon Ella Fitzgerald became famous as the First Lady of Song and the Queen of Jazz, she started out -- as so many performers have -at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. She was 17 years old, and she didn’t intend to sing; she had planned to perform a dance number. Before it was her turn to perform, though, there was a dance act so good that she felt intimidated, so she changed her plan. It was a good idea, evidently -- not only did she win first prize for the night, she went on to take home one of the inaugural Grammy Awards, as well as 12 more over the course of her career. She also was awarded the National Medal of Arts, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement. Not bad for a would-be dancer. * Those who study such things say that, geologically speaking, Florida is the youngest of all the United States -- that is to say, it emerged from the ocean more recently than any of the other 49. *** Thought for the Day: “The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth.” -- Albert Einstein
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Thank you to everyone who attended the Lumby & District Community Showcase and Junk in the Trunk & Treasures Community Yard Sale & Vendors Market and helped to make the weekend a success!
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Once a female mosquito has bitten a host, she sucks the blood until she swells to twice her normal size. It’s hard to fly with so much extra weight, so she pumps out all the extra water and unwanted salts from her blood and excretes it on her hapless host before flying off.
1. Male king penguins store undigested food in their stomachs for weeks while anti-bacterial chemicals keep it from rotting. The food is regurgitated for the chick to eat. 2. Owls pile dung at the entrance to their nest to attract dung beetles, which they eat. 3. The Gila monster keeps itself cool on hot days by covering itself in its own urine. 4. Hagfish will produce large amounts of slime when they are threatened. The slime clogs the gills of predatory fish, threatening to suffocate them. 5. Maggot larvae of the fruit fly may be small, yet they gain 7% of their body weight every single hour.
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HIPPOPOTAMUS
1. Snakes swallow prey head first so the creature’s spines, feathers, or horns lay flat while going through the snake’s gut. 2. There are about 14,000 species of bugs that feed on the blood of animals, and around 300 to 400 of those regularly feed on humans, their livestock, and their pets.
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