Pygmy slow loris

We had a little bit of a scare today from Kamali she seemed to have injured her leg and was not using it. We contacted the vet worried she had broken it but she started using it again normally shortly afterwards so she may have jumped off a table badly.

Art

Art goal for the week 12.75 hours

Today

sanding still

Animal

photo by guppiecat

The pygmy slow loris (Nycticebus pygmaeus) is a rare prosimian primate that inhabits Vietnam, Laos, China and Cambodia. Slow lories have glands on their elbows, the sebaceous gland, that produces a substance that when mixed with saliva becomes poisonous. When threatened they tend to poison their teeth before biting. They have long canine teeth that help to deliver the poison and their smaller front teeth slope backward in such a way to conduct the saliva along the canines. They will also coat their young in poisonous saliva when they are unattended to protect them from predators. They can also emit a foul smelling substance when threatened.  This species of slow loris is a nocturnal omnivore that seems to have a preference for gums (plant juices). Their hands and feet have a muscle and blood vessel set up that allow them to maintain a ridged grip for long periods of time somewhat effortlessly. They were fairly endangered during the Vietnam war due to the tremendous habitat destruction, but they have recovered somewhat since then and there are thought to be around 70,000 of them in existence.  

The terrible hog of Holland

I took Tempest to the vet today. That was exciting. 

Art

goal for the week 13.5 hours

Today 

sanding

Animal

photo by cool as a cucumber

The terrible hog of Holland (Dinohyus Hollandi) was a giant entelodont that not only would make a great monster in an rpg but also sounds like one of the things Hunter would have fought in the book "Neverwhere". Entelodonts were related to modern pigs and this one was very large at roughly the size of a bison they existed from the Oligocene to the Miocene in North America. It was not found in Holland and was in fact named after John Holland. The name was actually intended to be an insult to John Holland as he had a tendency to force his way to senior author of every paper so in this case the head line Dinohyus Hollandi  "World's biggest hog". The terrible hog of Holland was a likely a lot more carnivorous then modern pigs (not that modern pigs are not more carnivorous then you would think) and while still and omnivore probably ate a lot of carrion and preyed on small animals.

An amusing painting of a Dinohyus eating a dinosaur by Luis R entitled "tastes like chicken"

Hawaiian bobtailed squid

Art

Goal for the week 15.25 hours

Today

buy more sandpaper

sand boxes

Animal 

Photo by Nick Hobgood

The Hawaiian bobtailed squid (Euprymna scolopes) is a tiny squid that only grows to a little over 1 inch in length and lives in tropical coastal Pacific areas. This squid sometimes lives in incredibly shallow water only 2-4 cm deep. The Hawaiian bobtailed squid is a short lived squid completing its life cycle in only 3 to 10 months. Given its unpredictable behavior it is also thought that it is quite intelligent. This squid has a symbiotic relationship with a light producing bacteria Vibrio fischeri. The squid has a light organ in it's mantle that it purposely infects with Vibrio fischeri. It feeds the bacteria with this organ and the bacteria produce a controlled amount of light from the bottom of the squid. This light helps it to avoid creating a silhouette that would tip off predatory fish to it's presence. Interestingly the bacteria in this light organ can give off 1000 times more light then that bacteria cultured independently. This symbiotic relationship seems to be in the process of being studied reasonably heavily at this time from what I can tell based on all of the online papers. This Vibrio bacteria is a harmless light producing species, however other Vibrio bacteria are responsible for shellfish poisoning and Cholera, so the study of the mechanisms of this symbiotic relationship may also be useful for human health studies. In the process of these studies they have also worked out how to breed this squid in captivity which is quite a challenge as squid require very difficult to produce water conditions.

Flying gurnard

Tired today

Art 

goal for the week 15.5 hours

Today 

still sanding (yay)

Animal

photo by Michael Aston

The flying gurnard (Dactylopterus volitans) ranges over tropical and temperate coastal waters of the Atlantic. It is in the same order as scorpionfish, but is itself non-venomous. They walk along the ocean floor and use their huge fins to find invertebrates. Like gurnards they have a drumming muscle that can be beaten against their two lobed swim bladder to produce sounds. There are some scientists in Ghana that have figured out how to make non-bovine gelatin from this fish. It seems they wanted to do this because this fish is a frequently wasted by-catch of the Ghana fishing industry. I have to admit upon first seeing this paper I was confused as to why they would want to make gelatin out of an uncommon wild caught fish rather then the byproducts of a widely captive raised mammal.

A video of a flying gurnard swimming (I think this was the right species but it may also be an oriental flying gurnard)

Marbled newt

Yesterday, I played with my labels a bit on this blog. I'm hoping I can make searching for animals on it a little bit more friendly. I'm still playing with them at this point. Oh I should probably note for the "weird bug" label I'm going for land based invertebrates I would be pleased to find under a rock rather then Hemipetra (not that there are not impressively weird Hemipetra) or even really Arthropods. I'd also take the "cute animal" label with care I'm told I'm not a good judge of this. If there is a manner of sorting you would like to see let me know.

Art

Goal for the week 17.75 hours

Today

still sanding

Animal

photo by anpena

The marbled newt (Triturus marmoratus) is found throughout much of France and Spain. The females are much larger then the males, but the males grow an impressive crest during the mating season. Newts have an amazing ability to regenerate limbs and sometimes eyes and organs. They also seem to be some what vulnerable to the conditions that cause frogs to grow extra legs. In frogs this is caused by Ribeiroia ondatrae, a trematode parasite, it is found in American newts and may be found in this newt as well. I have a found a video I will be putting at the bottom showing one of these newts with seven legs. According to a study by Diego-Rasilla and Luengo in 2002 marbled newts find their breeding pools by visually orienting themselves based on the position of stars. The study put them under  the condition of a misleading magnetic field and in several night sky conditions and they were found to be able to orient themselves when stars were clearly visible. 

Crested male in the breeding season

video of a 7 legged marbled newt

White stork

Not much going on today. I'm feeling a little better from the foam fighting. Stuart and I nearly have the new game ready and I'm well over halfway through the boxes. 

Art 

Goal for the week 20hrs

Today 

sanding boxes still

Animal

photo by Marek52

Mythology

The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) in mythology often seems to be associated with a punishment. In Greek mythology Gerana an AEthiope was transformed into a stork by Hera as a punishment. Gerana as a stork is also responsible for the the first image of a stork carrying a baby as she attempted  to steal back her child Mopsus after her transformation. In a Polish story the Christian god decided to kill reptiles and amphibians by drowning them in the ocean in a sack this task was entrusted to a man that failed and opened the sack releasing the reptiles and amphibians. The Christian god punished this man by turning him into a stork and sending him to prey on these animals.  Also in a Polish myth the Christian god punished the stork for pride by removing the storks brightly colored plumage and dooming him to wander between two homes that the stork would eternally long for. The white stork has many other associations besides punishment in mythology. The stork may have been associated with a few gods such as the Norse god Hoenir one of the creators of humanity, Venus the Roman goddess of love, and the Germanic god of thunder Donar. In Bulgaria the stork is heavily involved in a spring rite, on the first of March during "Chestita Baba Marta" people give each other martenitsas (small red and white tassles) when the first stork is seen the martenitsa is thrown at the stork to bring health. In Britain the first stork seen is believed to be good luck if seen in flight, but bad luck if seen on the ground. In Germany is believed that it is tremendously good luck to have stork nest on ones house. Also from Germany was the idea that the souls of the unborn reside in watery places that storks tend to frequent, and that these soul arrive in a village with the storks when they come during their migration. This may have led to the well-known Victorian storks bringing babies myth. 

Black Thighed Falconet

Stuart and I tried foam fighting yesterday morning. I was not expecting to be quite as sore afterwards (it is as though lots of people were hitting me very hard with foam covered sticks). Incidentally, I'm not very good at foam fighting so it was mostly being beaten with sticks.

art

sanding boxes (still sanding boxes)

Animal

photo by Redzlan

Redzlan also has a very nice Malaysian bird watching blog that I have been reading here

One of the world's smallest birds of prey is the black thighed falconet (Mircrohierax fringillarius) it is only about 6 inches long and lives in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia. They tend to be found in forest from low elevations to up to 1500m. The Mircrohierax falconets have been found to be most related to the African pygmy falcon and very distinct from other falconet genuses. They eat mostly large insects like dragonflies and mantids. On occasion they will also take small birds such as munias and sunbirds which are only slightly smaller then the falconets. It has been observed that they will occasionally hunt cooperatively to capture large insects. They tend to nest in tree hollows in a cooperative pair. Chicks can sometimes be seen in the hollows yawning for long periods of time in an effort strengthen their jaw muscles.

Chinese Mountain cat

I have little excuse for the lack of art yesterday. Before work I started reading the core book for the new game Stuart and I will be running and lost track of time. This game will be based on the Fate rpg system. Then after work I went to club, though it was good to see people. Bill threatened me with a toothpick at Perkins.

Art

Goal for the week still 13.5 hours

Today

still sanding boxes

Animal

photo by Mcelite

The Chinese mountain cat (Felis bieti) is a very elusive cat roughly twice the size of a house cat from Western China. It is also known at the Chinese desert cat though it is not observed to live in deserts, and seems to prefer alpine valleys. It is one of the least known cats and it is thought that there are less then 10,000 of them in existence. They eat mostly small mammals such as pikas and pine voles, so they are quite vulnerable to pika poisoning campaigns. Pikas are have poisoned been poisoned in mass numbers in China since 1958, because it is believed they compete with livestock. The Chinese mountain cat has also been observed holding it's head to the ground to listen for mole-rats and then suddenly digging them out. They are primarily nocturnal and prefer to make their dens on south facing slopes, generally kittens can be found in these dens in May.

Rocky Mountain Locust

Art

goal for the week 13.5 hours

Today

still sanding the boxes. So many boxes.

Animal

Once there were vast swarms of Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus) that ranged over most of the western United States. one of these swarms was over 198,000 square miles and could contain over 3 trillion individuals. 30 years after this swarm was recorded the species was completely extinct the last living specimen was recorded in 1902. They were such a problem for the western agriculture that some farmers tried to kill them with dynamite and other explosives to no real effect. It was thought that the problem these locust had is that they depended on a particular breeding ground that at some point was farmed over, completely destroying the species. Despite their great numbers during the time of their existence very few locust were ever collected, fortunately for entomologist wishing to study them a great number of locust mummies were preserved in Grasshopper Glacier in Montana.

Coconut crab

I should watch the inauguration today I did not get a chance to  yesterday. Things kept coming up and then work.

Art

goal for the week still 17.5 hours

today 

sand boxes

Animal

Photo by FearlessRich

The coconut crab or robber crab (Birgus latro) is the largest land living arthropod it inhabits many of the islands between Asia and Australia. Coconut crabs can have a leg span of over 3 feet and can weigh over nine pounds they have been known to live up to thirty years. They are very similar to hermit crabs and the juveniles will live in shells in the same manner until they exceed a certain size. They breathe with a spongy lung-like organ called a branchiostegal lung which must be kept wet they also have vestigial gills but will actually drown if submerged in water to long. True to their name the adults can open and eat coconuts as well as many other things such as fruit, nuts, and small animals. The some of Chamorro associate them with Taotaomona (ancestor spirits from before recorded history) and believe the Taotaomona can inhabit the crabs. The crabs are eaten by people however some crabs become extremely poisonous after eating the roots certain plants one of these plants is believed to be piratea (Ceodos umbraculifer) the toxin is similar to that found in fugu.

Coffin Ray

Here are some shots of the re horned buffalo pipe. Angel had asked that I make the horns starkly colored like that. 

Art

Goal for the week 17.5 hours

Today 

sand boxes

Animal

photo by stuandgravy

The coffin ray or numbray (Hypnos monopteygius) is an electric ray off the coast of Australia. The coffin ray feeds by hitting prey with an intense 200v electrical shock, its shock has also been known to make divers convulse excitingly, but is generally not fatal. It is called a coffin ray because when dried it looks like a coffin. They also have a symbiotic relationship with a black worm-like eye parasite. The worm attaches itself to the rays eye and then when the ray is buried in the sand it wiggles wildly attracting prey to the ray.

Pancake tortoise

Last night I finished running the D &D campaign that I'd been GMing for a year and a half. The players ended up winning, I hope the end was not too anti-climatic there were a few mistakes I was fully expecting them to make that they avoided at the last second so it probably seemed a lot easier than it should have been.

Art

Goal for the week 20 hours

Today

paint the buffalo pipe horns

sand boxes

Animal

photo by ideonexus

The pancake tortoise (Malacochersus tornieri) is a very flattened tortoise from Kenya and Tanzania. Often the pancake tortoise's shell is 6 or 7 inches long but only 1 inch high. For a tortoise they have a thin flexible shell that could easily be torn apart by predators so they spend most of their time crammed into the crevices between rocks. On their plastron they also have a flexible diamond shaped region they can wedge against the rocks making them difficult to dislodge. Their light shell allows them to run more quickly then other tortoises and also to right themselves quickly should they end up on their back. They will live communally with other pancake tortoises and sometimes as many as ten will share a favorable crevice. They tend to eat very tough vegetation and cactuses which they also get all of their water from. The collection wild individuals for the pet trade has not been kind to the wild population of these tortoises as they breed slowly and populations take a long time to recover. They have been successfully bred in captivity.

Harris hawk

Yesterday, I went to Mike's D&D game I was thinking it would be about a 3 hour game, but it turned out we were there more like 7 hours. That kind of ate up the day for me yesterday. I should be far more productive today. It looks like I will be doing Capricon in February. I could not really find any other February cons that would work. I suppose that will give me time to get this batch of boxes together and start something new for Cinema gallery.

Art

Goal for the week not going to happen

Today

sand boxes

work on dragon

Animal

photo by Parksy1964

The Harris hawk (Parabuteo unicinctus) is a pack hunting hawk from the southwestern United States and Central America. A harris hawk pack called a cast is generally made of all related family members. Typically, one will act as a flusher and the others will be ready to swoop down on the small animal, they then share the kill. They also have another strange behavior called stacking in which they will actually sit on one another's backs sometimes three high on top of a cactus. Researchers are still not entirely certain why they do this. They are very intelligent for birds of prey and quite trainable so they tend to be one of the more popular birds for falconers. Though if they are kept from a very young age by humans they will on occasion retain juvenile behavior and still scream for food when the human they have imprinted on as a parent is around.

Sculpture depicting the Harris hawk's stacking behavior

A video about a man that uses Harris hawks to scare pigeons and seagulls away from Parliament 

North American porcupine

art

Goal for the week 13.75 hours

Today

sand boxes

look into February Cons

Animal
photo by Enoch Ross
Mythology

The North American porcupine (Erethizon dorsatum) takes a strangely power role in many mythologies. For the Iroquois porcupine led all of the animals through the virtue of his even temper and determined the rotation of night and day. The porcupine also was the leader of all of the animals for the Tsimshian after impressing them all by biting off his own thumbs and he determined the flow of the seasons. In an Algonquin legend a porcupine summoned a snowstorm to punish to women that were stealing his quills. The moon took the form of a porcupine to lure a human bride into pursuing his valuable quills up a tree into the sky in an Arapaho story . There are also a number of stories about how the porcupine got his quills. The Menominee claim they were a punishment for his vanity and the quills now cover the porcupine's once beautiful fur. To contrast this for the Chippewa the quills were a gift to the porcupine from Nanabezho for cleverly thwarting a bear by covering himself with spiny Hawthorne branches.

Troodon part 2 Mythology

We had a significant temperature drop last night and club was dead. There were 10 people including Rick and Kristen and their SOs. I hope Stuart wasn't too bored, I danced a little more then usual not being intimidated by the people. We also saw a little bit of a John Carpenter movie about liquid Satan in a Jar I'm not entirely sure what was going on there. Stuart had observed that the movie had physics comparable to the movie "Anaconda"'s grasp on zoology. Oh also mostly for Grace, you may wish to check out "The Merry Thoughts" its creepy how much they sound like the Sisters of Mercy.

art

Goal for the week 15hrs

Today

assemble buffalo pipe

sand boxes

Animal

photo by Cryptonaut

In researching Troodon formosus for my last snippet on the them which you can see here, I discovered that these guys had developed some pretty extensive modern mythology. The mythology mostly relates to the dinosaur men they might, had they not gone extinct, have evolved into, often called "Reptoids". Most of the mythology falls into three camps. There are some cryptozoologists that think dinosaur or reptile men may exist in remote areas such as Scrape Ore swamp, Thetis Lake, and Loveland Ohio where you get some lizardman type monsters. Then there are some ufology sorts that say reptoids evolved on a parallel earth in another dimension and occasionally visit this dimension and interact with grey aliens to some extent as some have seen them during their abductions. Then to elaborate on the ufology sorts there are some conspiracy theorists that think the reptoids can shapeshift and are infiltrating the US and UK goverments.

Banana slug

I finished reading "The Watchmen" yesterday I can't say I expected the ending. Strangely they randomly decided to remove invoicing from my duties at work yesterday. I wonder if they are getting ready to lay me off. Though I did get a new key with everyone else so it is hard to say.

Art

goat for the week 16.5hours

Today

sand still more boxes

fire the buffalo pipe horns

Animal

photo by A.Poulos (lya)

In the coniferous rainforest of Pacific Northwest of North America they have giant yellow slugs, banana slugs (Ariolimax columbianus). They are considered to be the second largest slugs in the world at around 10 inches. There is a somewhat larger slug in Europe Limax cinereoniger it is however less electric yellow. Not that all banana slugs are electric yellow some have spots others are dark brown or green some are even white so they have a wide range of the states of bananas covered, this would probably be better camouflage if there were native bananas in the pacific northwest. To protect themselves from raccoons and other predators they can secrete an anesthetic slime that causes membranes to go numb and tastes unpleasant. They also secrete slime to keep themselves moist, travel, and attract mates (which really could be any other banana slug because they are all hermaphrodites).

Striated frogfish

Art

goal for the week 18hrs

today

sand boxes

Animal

photo by Jens Petersen

The striated frogfish (Antennarius striatus) is a very widely distributed fish that can be found in coastal tropical waters in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. Like deep sea anglerfish they to have a modified fin on their head with a lure called an illicium, though their lure looks more like a worm and does not produce light. They have the one of the fastest feeding mechanisms known in vertebrates, it is so fast it can not be seen with the human eye. They also have an extendable stomach that allows them to handle strangely large prey. They also walk along the bottom on somewhat leg-like fins. When threatened they can inflate like a pufferfish to become difficult to swallow.

Here is a video of two of them walking also the ocean floor wiggling their illicium

The smaller one is probably a male

Rainbow Boa

I got strangely depressed yesterday, hopefully today will go better.

Art

Goal for the week still 20hrs lets try this again

Today

sand boxes

Animal

photo by bsmith4815

The Rainbow boa (Epicrates cenchria) is a lovely snake with an iridescent shine that comes from the Amazon Basin. The Brazilian rainbow boa (E. c. cenchria) is probably the most impressive subspecies of rainbow boa with their bright red and orange markings. The iridescent scales are due to microscopic ridges on their scales that act like tiny prisms. They tend to look best right after a shed when the ridges are newest. These snakes are not at all uncommon in captivity, and are not generally reputed to the friendliest snakes, but are being very successfully captive bred. My cousin is a stage magician in Pigeon Forge TN and used to have a fairly impressive Columbian rainbow boa (E. c. maurus) that would help out with his acts. I suppose it would be not to difficult to get a boid to sit quietly in a box.

Victoria Crowned Pigeon

Stuart has convinced me to read the watchmen and Nick has started up his late 1930 "Call of Cthulhu" pulp game. I'm playing a former magician's assistant/occult shop owner, we also have a patriotic physicist, a man that was found wandering with no memories in Brazil who now works at a discredited university, a mafia daughter in a jazz band, and a cartoonist. Should be an interesting game.

Art

Goal for the week 20hrs

Today

sand boxes

Animal

Photo by Simon Bradshaw

With the extinction of the Dodo, the Victoria crowned pigeon (Goura victoria) is now the largest member of the dove family at about 5lbs. They are found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and are omnivores. During breeding they do that "special" thing other pigeons do where they ferment a milky white smelly substance in their crop, so that they can feed their young "pigeon milk" the first few days, I guess it's not just rock doves (city pigeons) that do that. They are said to be intelligent for pigeons and long lived at about 25 years. They are heavily hunted for their meat and feathers in the wild and so are threatened (it is estimated there are well under 10,000 left), but have been extensively bred in captivity.

Pink fairy armadillo

I got quite a bit done yesterday, though I'm a little sick of sanding boxes. I did get to watch my roommates argue about moral philosophy for a few hours.

Art

Goal for the week 9hrs (I have my doubts I will reach it)

Today

sand yet more boxes

work on the dragon

Animal

Photo by PIWO

The pink fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus) is the smallest species of armadillo at only 3.5 to 4.5 inches long, but do look a bit like they were cut short and their back legs moved forward. This endangered mammal comes from central Argentina and tend to live in dry grasslands and deserts. They have serious front claws and spend most of their time burrowing, they can actually bury themselves in seconds when threatened. They are the only armadillo with a dorsal shell that is completely separated from the body, they do have an armored rump though that is fused to their pelvis. They may be short lived as captive individuals have only made it about 4 years. While they are endangered there are no organized efforts to save the species, sadly no one loves tiny mole armadillos.

Tiktaalik

When I was given the duty of invoicing at my place of work they gave me a filing cabinet. In the filing cabinet there was an inexplicable pipe in the shape of a buffalo that seems to be a nice pipe made out of some specialty italian wood. I don't really smoke (smoking that would mix well with all the silica and plastic I breathe) so I just sat it on my desk for the novelty of a hornless buffalo pipe. I eventually gave it to another co worker who had it for about a year and then got laid off so it came back to me. I then gave it to Angel who intends to use it. He gave it back to me and asked me to add ceramic horns. I wonder if it will come back again.

Art

Goal for the week 15hrs

Today

sand boxes

work on dragon

finish casting crimson ghost for commission box (went with latex instead of silicone because it's cheaper and I only need a few)

sand commision box

paint commision box

make horns for the buffalo pipe for Angel

Animal

Photo by Don Coyote

Tiktaalik (Tiktaalik roseae) is an extinct lobe-finned fish that existed around the Devonian in the area that became Canada. It is a transitional fossil between fish and tetrapods. Like fish it has fish-like scales and gills and like tetrapods it, also has lungs and a flexible neck. Like a tetrapod it's bone structure includes a shoulder, elbow and wrist bones, as well as musculature in the fins that would have been quite flexible. It likely could bear its weight with its fins. It was thought that the fish lived in shallow oxygen poor waters. It may have also occasionally pulled itself on to land in the manner of a lungfish. The name Tiktaalik came from an Inuit elders that suggested it since the fossils look like a local cod-like fish, a Burbot called a Tiktaalik in Inuit. Here is a shot of that fin/leg.

Sacred Scarab

I'm feeling kind of out of it. It may be the paint fumes at work.

Art

goal for the week 15hrs

Today

sand boxes (lots to go)

Animal

photo by Sarefo

Mythology

For the Ancient Greeks and the Ancient Egyptians there were only male sacred scarabs (Scarabaeus sacer) and they reproduced by themselves in the dung ball, they also carried their dung balls which to the Egyptians held a life giving potential in a manner similar to the sun crossing the sky. For the Ancient Egyptians this scarab was associated with the god Khepera (Khepri) who had a head that was a full scarab and was charged with filling the sun with life in the morning so that it could be rolled across the sky and then safely getting it into the mouth of Nut (goddess of the sky) so that it could emerge from her womb the next morning. Khepera has an odd relationship with Ra there seems to be several versions in some cases he is a form of Ra, in others he replaces him, and still in others he rides in the sun boat and assists. Khepera also played a part in the rebirth of the dead in that he became the dead body with the potential life (like the ball of dung) from which the spiritual body could emerge. During Ancient Egyptian burials a green stone scarab was added to the chest cavity of the deceased or as jewelry to act as a guardian of the heart, to help with the opening of the mouth ceremony, and help ward against false evidence being presented during the weighing of the heart. The scarab was also worked into jewelry and seals for a variety of reason sometimes a representation of the rebirth of the body, probably sometimes as a representation of Ra, other times for luck, ect. I could probably babble far longer on the various significances of the scarab in Ancient Egyptian religion and the uses of faience scarab seals but I should probably stop here.

Striped Eel Catfish

I found out the live 365 station I'd been listening to will stop existing in March if you would like to check them out they can be found here. It is sad. Other then that, I got a registration sticker for my car today. As far as art I have exciting options available to me currently I can sand the 214 (well less now) similar boxes or I can sculpt scales. I may have to throw another project in so I don't lose my mind or stop working. Oh I did forget I'm doing Cryptic ConFusion in late January I put up a post in my other art Journal.

Art

goal for the week 16hrs

Today

sand boxes (I have a lot of boxes)

Animal

photo by Jens Petersen

The striped eel catfish (plotosus lineatus) is a saltwater catfish from the Indo-Pacific. They are the only catfish that regularly lives around reefs and they have a highly venomous serrated spine on their doral and pectoral fins that is occasionally fatal. The brightly striped juveniles then to hang out in large schools of up to 100 individuals in roughly a ball of fish shape.

Here is a good photo of one of the ball shaped schools

Amazon milk frog

Art

Goal for the week 17.5 hours

Today

I must ship out the Cryptic Confusion show this is the last day I can ship. I only have to add foam to the box and ship it.

cast the skull for the commission box

sand boxes

Animal

photo by Chester Zoo

The Amazon milk frog (Trachycephalus resinifictrix) is a 2 to 4 inch arboreal frog from South America. They are called "milk frogs" as they secrete a white poisonous substance when threatened that resembles milk. They are not unheard of in captivity though tend to mostly be kept by zoos and experienced frog hobbyists as they are difficult to keep. They have been bred in captivity since it was discovered that they will only breed in the hollows of large trees. The mere presence of Sir David Attenboroughs also helps with their breeding process if you ask the London zoo, who had their milk frogs breed after years of attempting to coax them when he came to visit (it may have also been the new humidifier they added to their tank) .

Red tailed black cockatoo

Running short on time today.

Art

goal for the week 19hrs

today

get the con mailed off

sand boxes

Animal

rerun from livejournal

Today a sort of death-rock bird, The red-tailed black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus banksii) is one of five very similar subspecies of black cockatoos found throughout Australia. If you can imagine this cockatoo dancing/displaying in the manner other cockatoos do I think it completes the death-rock image. If you have never seen a cockatoo dance/display you should meet more cockatoos. The Southwestern subspecies known as the Karak for the noise it makes, is quite endangered but the others are doing alright. They are reasonably sexually dimorphic males are glossy and black and females have some spots. In the Arnhem Land the black cockatoo was the wife of crow and they both became birds to avoid being buried. According to the Tiwi they accompany the dead to the afterlife.

dancing cockatoo (sulfur crested) video

Malayan flying fox

Not much going on

Art

goal for the week 20hrs

today

get the January ready for mail off tomorrow

sand boxes

Animal

photo by D4rr3ll

The Malayan flying fox (pteropus vampyrus) is a very large fruit eating bat from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Tonga, and Vanuatu. It is the largest bat by wingspan as it's wingspan can reach 6 feet and yet they weigh only a little of 2lbs. They do not use echolocation and are very similar to early bats except in that they do not possess a stabilizing tail. Apparently, they are considered tasty as they are very heavily hunted in their native range in 2003 over 4000 individuals were taken by hunters in a site that was being monitored. It may also be believed by some cultures that their meat can cure asthma.

Sharovipteryx

We did quite a bit of cleaning yesterday. I've started working on sanding the 214 new boxes and got a little work in on the dragon.

Art

Today

sand boxes

work on dragon

Animal

picture by Dmitry Bogdanov

In the early Triassic around the area of Kyrgyzstan there was a strange gliding reptile (Sharovipteryx mirabilis) that had it's main gliding membranes along it's back legs. It is thought by some that Sharovipteryx was bipedal and would launch into a glide from a running start, others think it was arboreal and launched itself from trees. It is the oldest know animal to have a gliding membrane attached to it's limbs and the only known animal to have it's primary gliding membrane on it's hind limbs. The species is known from only one fossil found in the Osh Region of Kyrgyzstan in 1971 which is a little crumbled in the front leading to some debate as to how membranes may have been attached in it's front area.

A picture of the fossil

Jellyfish Lake - Golden jellyfish

Angel finally got that introduction to Goth music he was looking for with odd results. He liked Voltaire but thought the rest was like "elevator music". I'm not sure what kind of elevators Angel spends his time in. I'm really kind of confused I went a little heavy on the goth rock like Sisters and old Clan of Xymox and it was not arranged particularly well but otherwise it was pretty diverse. Maybe he wanted industrial, although I had just a smattering of that and also just a little EBM. Maybe he wanted gothic metal? I'm just not sure where the elevator music thing came from. I really only had one swoopy Changelings song as far as really slow things. It was not full of Black Tape for a Blue Girl or anything. Maybe I need to find this elevator?

Animal
photo by aSIMULAtor

The golden jellyfish (subspecies of Mastigias papua) is found in Jellyfish lake or Ongeim'l Tketau on the Pacific island of Palau. The site has become very popular with divers as the jellyfish have a mostly harmless sting and can be seen in the thousands. Divers do need to stay near the water's surface though as the bottom of the lake is heavy in poisonous hydrogen sulfide, the jellyfish descend into this hydrogen sulfide layer at night as part of their daily migration. They are a subgroup of the spotted jellyfish that has been isolated in a marine lake for around 12,000-15,000 years ago in this time they have changed a lot. Some of the ways the have changed are; losing the spots of the spotted jellyfish, strengthened their symbiotic relationship with algae, losing their terminal clubs, developing a complex daily migration pattern based on sun position, and having their sting reduced to something that is only really capable of killing very tiny crustaceans. There are nearby lakes (some of which have been isolated for less time) that also have isolated spotted jellyfish that have changed less or in slightly different ways, I've included an image at the bottom that shows some of the other varieties.

Video showing the view of divers in the lake

Different subspecies from the different lakes

Oarfish

Stuart and I spent yesterday planning the new game. It should be ready soon.

Animal

Sea Serpents and Nagas
It has been often said that the oarfish (Regalecus glesne) may be responsible for many of the sea serpent legends. It was suggested by Fredrick McCoy in 1878 that the oarfish was a very good candiate for the sea serpent of legend as it was a very rare strange looking fish that sailors would be very unaccustomed to seeing unlike seals and long clumps of seaweed. This is probably not a bad point there is a specific modern example of an Oarfish being mistaken for a Thai naga or a Nak. Nagas are beings with snake and sometimes human features that are often associated with deep water and fertility. If you would like more detail about what a Naga is go here. The Nak is genally depicted as a long crested serpent sometimes with 7 heads. So a long crested eel like fish is probably not a terrible match, not a serpent but it is snakelike and has a crest. On September 9, 1996 a very large oarfish was found at a navy seals base in Coronado Island and a photo was taken by Leo Smith, which featured in the Coronado Eagle in April 1997. Somehow a doctored version of this made it to Thailand with the caption "Queen of Nagas seized by American army at Mekhong River, Laos Military Base June 27, 1973 with the length of 7.80 meters. It is theorized the doctored picture was originally sold in Nong Khai possible during "Bung Fai Phya Nak" an event that occurs the on the full moon the 11 month of the luna year at the end of Pansa or Vassa, also sometimes called Buddhist lent. During this festival large soundless red fireballs rise from the Mekhong river and disapate every year and no one really knows why, the best scientific theory for a natural explaination so far is swamp gas coming from moving water or of course humans. The explation generally attributed to the festival is that the King of the Nagas/Nak creates the fireballs in honor of Buddha on this day. The photo is now somewhat commonly found with vendors at this festival and has developed it's own urban legends. One story about the photo was that the men in the photograph ate the flesh of the that Naga and then all of them died. Thus I think the theory of Oarfish being mistaken for legendary creatures is fairly valid.

Here is the Queen of the Nagas photo