Douglas Chapman's
LOST WORLD MAY ACTUALLY BECOME LOST
THE CURSE
GOOSE CHASE IN A GOOD CAUSE
KILLER BEES IN ARIZONA
EVOLUTION ON OVERDRIVE
ALARM ABOUT ABNORMAL AMPHIBIANS
BRINGING BUTTERFLIES BACK
SPRITES SIGHTED
THE BETTER BIRDBRAIN
THE BRITISH ELEPHANT TABOO
LOST WORLD MAY ACTUALLY BECOME LOST
Goodbye muntjac; hello lumber industry.
As of early 1996, General Cheng Sanyavog, who in addition to his Laotian military duties is also the Mountainous Development Co.'s chief executive officer, is cutting down much previously undefiled old-growth coniferous forest. While this is commercially benefitting his countrypeople, it is endangering rare animals, some of them not known by western science until recently.
Affected is Laos's east central area, where such newly known entities as the barking deer (the large-antlered muntjac) and the soala are among the inhabitants of the Annamite forest.
But if the timber industry and the Nam Theun II hydroelectric dam project prevail, the search for and conservation of rare fauna may be impeded, related the February 11, 1996 Washington Post.
THE CURSE
A British brewery's plans for renovation of the oldest pub in Britain were, as of late 1995, delayed by a haunting curse, reported Australia's Courier Mail on November 2, 1995.
Six decades had passed since the galleon suspending from the ceiling in the" Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem" pub in Nottingham was last cobwebless. It seemed no one wanted to clean it, because of the belief that those who touched it would meet their death within a year.
GOOSE CHASE IN A GOOD CAUSE
Frank Poirier admitted his skepticism, yet said: "...good science requires some wild-goose chases from time to time." Poirier is the chairman of the Department of Anthropology at Ohio State. Researchers from that university were, as of early November 1995, conducting an analysis of the DNA on some hairs taken from the Pacific Northwest forest site where two ex-forest rangers and one other man saw some Bigfoots. After the creatures left, the three men gathered the tufts of hair, as well as prints of feet and knuckles.
The sighting was from a hundred-foot distance and in the dark. Scientific analysis might help clarify what was seen, and whether the gathered hair was human, known animal--or something else.
As quoted in Fort Wayne's The News Sentinel of November 7, 1995, Wes Sumerlin, one of the three observers of the entities, on November 5 expressed no doubts about his having sighted Bigfoot.
KILLER BEES IN ARIZONA
Authorities stated that Mary Williams, an 88-year-old resident of Apache Junction, Arizona, met her doom on October 6, 1995, from 1000 stings by a swarm of killer bees.
The Africanized bees responsible for her death lived in an abandoned home. According to the account in the October 11 USA Today, the generous dimensions of their hive were eight by thirteen feet.
EVOLUTION ON OVERDRIVE
If atomic armageddon occurs, mice may be able to adapt.
Mutant forms of the rodent are thriving around Chernobyl, in the Ukraine, where the famous nuclear disaster occurred many years back.
University of Georgia scientists wore protective gear to enter that area and find out why the rodents were coping better than other lifeforms--including humans.
The scientists in mid-1995 ascertained that the DNA of the mice had evolved incredibly quickly because of the ionizing radiation at the locale. Chernobyl mutant mice have genes that vary from regular mice to a greater extent than rats vary from mice, reported the Los Angeles Times on or around July 20, 1995. And these latter two species branched out from each other about 15 million years ago.
Humans evolved from small mammals; if the human race came to an end from nuclear folly, could the resultant radiation help speed up the arrival of a possible replacement?
ALARM ABOUT ABNORMAL AMPHIBIANS
Cica late August 1995, Minnesota New Country School students in Le Seur found frogs with many unusual features, including having only one eye or an extra set of hind legs.
A report out of Henderson, published in the September 1 USA Today, noted that after a state probe was launched as a result of these discoveries, officials stated that, at a minimum, 40% of the frogs from a marsh local to Le Seur were abnormal.
BRINGING BUTTERFLIES BACK
Dead and extinct creatures mounted in museums may help bring their species back to life.
The Large Copper butterflies and the Chequered Skipper variety both went extinct when hedgerows were eliminated.
Now, matching DNA samples from both the 75-years-extinct butterflies and living ones of other types, English Nature aspires to bring back the beautiful insects, reported the Yorkshire Post on March 27, 1995.
SPRITES SIGHTED
The photo published in the July 6, 1995 Denver Post really did look like a ghostly giant jellyfish.
But it actually was a sprite.
Walter Lyons, a meteorologist of Fort Collins presented study results of sprites at the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics' general assembly, in early July 1995.
In previous decades, the pilots who saw the sprites apparently dancing atop thunderclouds would avoid talking about such blobs, which were pinkish red and resembled jellyfish.
Unlike regular lightning, bolts that generate the gigantic sprites have a positive charge, instead of the negative charge common to the other 95% of lightning bolts.
Eugene Wescott and David Sentman, both of the Geophysical Institute of Alaska, were the first researchers to officially document sprites, after a satellite made the phenomenon known in 1989. Since then, video cameras have at night watched the areas above thunderstorms, and confirmed the things' existence.
Fort Collins has been an ideal place to spot them--probably due to Colorado's plains and mountains.
Charles Fort once speculated about large lifeforms in the upper atmosphere--so what should be made of an upper-atmosphere "sea creature"?
THE BETTER BIRDBRAIN
New Caledonia, off northeast Australia, is home to some smart crows. While humans, chimpanzees and some other animals have used tools, the crows in this case showed greater sophistication than any birds heretofore observed. The creatures used twigs or leaves to make tools for snagging insects, worms and other things. These leaves and twigs were modified by the birds for use in holes and crevices.Gavin R. Hunt, an ecologist of Massey University in New Zealand, related in the Nature issue of January 18, 1996 an account of his watching the bird's tool-use and tool-making.
Pigeons may not be as stupid as they look, either. The September New Scientist featured a letters page of reports from riders of the London subway who observed pigeons getting on, riding, and getting off the cars with an apparent sense of purpose--and of their destination.
Source: New Scientist, September 1995; Susan Okie in Science Notebook, The Washington Post, 1/22/96
THE BRITISH ELEPHANT TABOO
Circa March 1, 1995, the China Trade News gave some information to Chinese business persons about the taboos and superstitions of the British.
It instructed its patrons to praise Britishers' pets, and to never knock knives against glasses. Also: "When exporting goods to Britain make sure you do not put any pictures of elephants on the trademarks or its packaging."
Mixed Bag appears regularly in STRANGE MAGAZINE. Many of these clips have never been published in Strange Magazine and appear exclusively on the Strange Magazine Web site.
