Scanning Electron Micrograph Of A Male And Female Flatworm. The Smaller Female Can Be Seen Emerging From

Velociraptor by Brett Gross. Water color on water color paper. 24"x18".

Sharks are fucking metal!

SPERM WHALE EVOLVED TO RAMMING

Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick was inspired by historical instances in which large sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus L.) sank 19th century whaling ships by ramming them with their foreheads. The immense forehead of sperm whales is possibly the largest, and one of the strangest, anatomical structures in the animal kingdom. It contains two large oil-filled compartments, known as the “spermaceti organ” and “junk,” that constitute up to one-quarter of body mass and extend one-third of the total length of the whale 

Now an international team of researchers used structural engineering principles to test how the head of the sperm whale might be able to resist strong ramming impacts. Using computer simulations and working from published data on sperm-whale tissue and skeletal structure, scientists modeled impacts of varying types, and from a range of directions,what they found is the whale’s junk proved to play a vital role, with tissue partitions distributing much of the stress from ramming impacts and thereby preventing the skull from fracturing.

Although male sperm whales may not fight frequently, we know that aggressive ramming behaviour is a common characteristic in the group of mammals from which whales are derived – the even-toed ungulates, the artiodactyls. 

Illustration: Schematic representation of sperm whale head structure, courtesy of Ali Nabavizadeh. 

Reference: Panagiotopoulou et al. 2016. Architecture of the sperm whale forehead facilitates ramming combat Peerj

The Lemon Grove Mummies: Ancient Corpses from Mexican Cave Found in California Garage

On an ordinary day in 1980, a Californian mom decided to spend the afternoon cleaning out her garage – a long neglected chore. She found a lot of trash and plenty of knick-knacks; some forgotten memories arose but nothing unusual. That is until she came to a carton buried in the back. Inside, she found the corpse of a young girl and an infant. Horrified that something so ghastly was lurking in her garage, the mom called the police at once. The Lemon Grove PD arrived ready to investigate a murder. Instead, they stumbled upon a mystery. The two bodies found in that California garage may have been victims but their deaths had taken place centuries earlier.

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Russian deep sea fisherman becomes online hit after revealing bizarre catches

1. Frilled Shark 2. Unidentified, possibly a stoplight loosejaw, a deep-sea dragonfish from the genus Malacosteus 3. Ghost Shark 4. Black Scabbardfish 5. Sea Spider 6. Grenadier or Rattail Fish 7. Unidentified 8. Anglerfish, species unidentified 9. Unidentified 10. Ray, species unidentified

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The dancers of the sea | Peter Chadwick