Mimivirus

It has been long thought that viruses were tiny and they needed host cells in other to replicate and carry out cellular functions. However, the discovery of mimivrus challenged all previously held assumptions. Well, this virus was mistaken for a gram-positive bacteria due to its sophisticated organelles and size. However, in 2003, a scientist from France isolated it from an amoeba and extract a sample from a water cooling tower. He placed it under high resolution microscope and to his horror, he discovered that it was actually a monstrous virus. A virus that was GI-NORMOUS.

Having the largest capsid diameter, this overweighted virus contains at least 900 genes- bigger than that of a bacterium. Until now, little is known about this unusual virus which is one of its kind. The fact that it houses so many genes led some people to think that it might be the missing link between bacteria and viruses. It may even have self-replicated in the early stages, given its rich components.

Although it has been linked to pneumonia in humans, it is in no way related to the SARS virus that swept the Far East.

MIMIVIRUS? Definitely not MINI.

Box Jellyfish

Of the 2000 or so species catalog to date, about 70 are venomous enough to pose a threat to human lives. And by far the deadliest, is the Box Jellyfish, found in the Northern Australian waters. Relatively little is known about this jellyfish, their existence has been shrouded in mystery. Yet they kill more people in the Australian waters than any other marine creatures. Some 70 people in the past 100 years have been killed, more than great white sharks.
As we all know, jellyfish do not have a brain. So, is the Box jellyfish merely drifting on the surf, or are they actively hunting for their prey?
After a research scientist placed a tracking device on one of these dangerous creatures, it revealed its whereabouts. It swam fast, even faster than any olympic swimmer. Towards the shores with people it travelled, and then veering into the nearby mangroves where its tentacles might get entangled in the sophisticated branches. Why then? The truth lies in the vast number of fishes that the mangrove houses- they are the prey for box jellyfish.

So, how is it possible for the jellyfish to navigate itself and hunt down its prey without a brain?
Interesting isn't it.

BOX JELLYFISH











Fatal sting from the jellyfish

Interesting Fact

Sharks actually develop their killer instincts during the growing stages in their mother's womb. Bigger baby sharks gobble up smaller ones when they just emerged from their eggs. How cruel.

BIG BLUE

I watched this recent documentary " Big Blue" on National Geographic channel. I knew that whales have been hunted and killed for various reasons but little did i know that the rate was this alarming. In the past, there were approx 100,000 blue whales just in the antartica only. After some decades, for some reasons, their numbers have reduced to a mere 2000+ only.

Hunting of blue whale
Scientists and researchers have continued to protect the blue whales from all ard the world. Hunting of blue whales has been banned since a long time ago and thus it is supposedly not to be sold in any markets.
However, in this recent documentary, blue whale meat was seen at a wet market in Tokyo, Japan. Assisted by a Japanese researcher who has been working for the same cause, they managed to purchase a piece of fresh whale meat at the market without arousing suspicion, and brought it back to extract its DNA. Comparisons to the blue whale germ bank revealed that it was indeed a blue whale. But interestingly, there was more to just a blue whale. DNA from the flesh of the whale showed further that the whale's mother mother was a indeed blue whale, but its father actually belonged to a different species. The Fin whale.
The Fin whale is the second largest whale in the ocean, right after the Blue Whale. Hybrid whales are very rarely sighted, given the number of blue whales and the large hunting of Fin whales in the many countries.
Further investigation uncovered the reason why this hybrid blue whale found its way to the Japan market; It originated from Iceland, where hunting of whales are permitted but only for Fin whales. Apparently, the hybrid was mistaken for a Fin whale due to its double-specied origin. It was then shipped to Japan to be sold. Unbelievable.

Death of blue whales
Dead blue whales are sighted at beaches of California once every season. But this time, four of them have been washed up to the ocean bank in just one season. Something must be amiss. Examining the body of the whales, scientists drew conclusions from the mashy muscle tissues from its back and the various bruishes on its sides. The cause of their deaths were collisions with large ships and tankers.
Once the impact occurs, the whales would suffer internal bleeding till they die. It takes about 3 weeks for the waves of the oceans to propel them towards the beachbank due to their massive sizes.
According to a research scientist in Boston, this phenomenon is most likely stimulated from the similar sound waves and frequency that radiates out from the large ships, just like the sounds made from a blue whale. The frequency of the sound wave a blue whale makes is usually low- at about 10 to 40 hz. While for humans it is about 90 hz.
What is amazing is that the whales are able pick up these sound waves from a distance of 160 km away. Little study has been made regardin the sound waves of the blue whales and what they are used for. Scientists speculate that it is probably an advertisement to other whales when food is found, and also to attract female whales for mating. The width of a ear canal is approx 1cm wide in humans, while in the case of the big blue, its a gigantic half a metre long! This is probably one of the reasons why whales are able to receive sound signals from many miles away. Very interesting animal.
Coincidentally, these enormous ships too make low frequency like those of a blue whale, thus attracting many female whales to travel towards it, and this explains the high rate of collisions. Out of 10 dead blue whales that surfaced, 7 were females. This called for deeper speculation that the cause of deaths of these whales were mainly collisions with large ships. More research and understanding has to be put in place in order to reduce such incidents and protect the endangered species.

Where are they borned
On another side of the earth, another project regarding blue whales was on its way to discover more facts about the mating and feeding season of the Big Blue- an area which is largely unknown up to date. Thus, 15 whales were put to test by satellite tracking. The trails of the whales movement were closely monitored. Scientists and National geographic photographers took a relatively small boat, Pacific Storm, and ventured out into the vast oceans with one purpose in mind - to find out where exactly are the blue whales borned.
Satellites tracking will only reach the crew two days later, which makes it difficult for Pacific Storm to catch up with the whales. 4 months later, satellites results revealed that most of their whales travelled to the eastern waters and hovered around there. However, there was this one female whale who continued her journey towards the west. Her previous test results showed that she had high hormone levels, which is an indication that she might be pregnant. Her trails were traced by the satellites and this was the vital information for the crew in Pacific Storm to follow the mother whale at the Atlantic Ocean. Besides, the CTD (stands for conductivity, temperate and Depth) was also another device that is used to identify presence of whales in the vicinity by picking up sounds made by them.

Many whales are found to not feed during the winter season, however this differs for the blue whale. To confirm this theory, the crew managed to retreive samples from the blue whale faeces from the ocean. After testing the foul brown reddish substance, it was confirmed that blue whales do feed during the winter season! One excellent discovery.

After monitoring the mother whale's trails for a few days, the crew continued to follow its trails, with hopes that it would slow down its speed and surface more often. In the past, infant baby whales are spotted around this area but they were alr 9 metres long, which means they were borned much earlier on. In order to find the exact location where the baby whales are borned, the crew are looking for an infant half that size.
Finally, after days of bad weather, they managed to spot the mother whale from afar when it surfaced to spurt water vapour about 10 metres high. Minutes later, a shorter spurt was seen nearby. It was indeed, the infant blue whale! Although they were not able to make history by capturing the process of birth on film, they reached their goal of this expedition after months of hardwork.

Congratulations =)