Impossible Animals Do Exist, So Why Not Bigfoot?

[Guest RayG]

I'm sorry, but that Yeti Crab looks like some kind of freaking Muppet.

RayG

[Guest]

I'm sorry, but that Yeti Crab looks like some kind of freaking Muppet.

RayG

Ray, I'm not as swift with the fancy stuff like you...LOL!! I found that and haven't had any problems. In fact I actually used it to resize the Grayjay Pic for my avatar. It's easy for beginners, and being free...well...gotta love it!

(JmoGJ)

[Guest ZeTomes]

Whoa momma, is there any way some of the photos can be reduced in size just a wee bit before posting them? My poor old 'puter nearly chokes whenever I open this particular thread.

Greetings Ray!

My purpose is to give the best quality possible to the images,

but you have a great point there, I thought one could only link an image directly from the net, not upload an image ().... By the way if not quoting, when you add a fast reply to the thread how can you manage to upload an image?

Cheers

Edited June 1, 2011 by ZeTomes

[Guest ZeTomes]

Greetings Ray!

My purpose is to give the best quality possible to the images,

but you have a great point there, I thought one could only link an image directly from the net, not upload an image ().... By the way if not quoting, when you add a fast reply to the thread how can you manage to upload an image?

Cheers

Ohh.... I got it, by using adanced editing options....

Ray, from now on images will be resized to the maximum possible dimension previous of zooming expansion. Is that ok for you?

w: 606

h: 806

test (medium)

test (high)

test (very high)

test (maximum)

test 600 X 300(x)

Cheers

Edited June 1, 2011 by ZeTomes

[Guest RayG]

What I'm doing is linking to an image I have uploaded to the net. I use photobucket, and I also have my own webspace available through my ISP. In both cases I upload the images to whichever one I wish and then use tags around the URL http address for the image location to present it here.

Basically, after the image is uploaded, it's just copy 'n paste.

If memory serves me correctly, we used to be able to upload images directly to the BFF from our hard-drive in the old days. Photobucket is pretty handy though.

RayG

[Guest LAL]

"Coelacanths are quite different from all other living fishes. They have an extra lobe on the tail, paired lobed fins, and a vertebral column that is not fully developed. Coelacanths are the only living animals to have a fully functional intercranial joint, which is a division separating the ear and brain from the nasal organs and eye. The intercranial joint allows the front part of the head to be lifted when the fish is feeding. One of the most interesting features of the Coelacanth, is that it has paired fins which move in a similar fashion to our arms and legs.

Meristic counts (see Smith, 1986) for L. chalumnae are as follows:
First dorsal fin: 8 spines
Second dorsal fin: 30 rays
Anal fin: 27 to 31 rays
Pectoral fin: 29 to 32 rays
Pelvic fins: 29 to 33 rays
Caudal fin: 25+38+21 rays

An amazing discovery

A few days before Christmas in 1938, a Coelacanth was caught at the mouth of the Chalumna River on the east coast of South Africa. The fish was caught in a shark gill net by Captain Goosen and his crew, who had no idea of the significance of their find. They thought the fish was bizarre enough to alert the local museum in the small South African town of East London.

The Director of the East London Museum at the time was Miss Marjorie Courtney-Latimer. She alerted the prominent south African ichthyologist Dr J.L.B. Smith to this amazing discovery. The Coelacanth was eventually named (scientific name: Latimeria chalumnae) in honour of Miss Courtney-Latimer.

Sulawesi Coelacanth

In 1998 a Coelacanth was caught in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The only obvious difference between it and the Coelacanth from the Comoros Islands was the colour. The Comoros Coelacanth is renowned for its steel blue colour, whereas fish from the Sulawesi population were reported to be brown. In 1999 the Sulawesi Coelacanth was described as a new species, Latimeria menadoensis by Pouyaud, Wirjoatmodjo, Rachmatika, Tjakrawidjaja, Hadiaty and Hadie.


Size range
The species grows to about 2 m in length and nearly 100 kg.
Distribution
This Coelacanth specimen caught in 1938 led to the discovery of the first documented population, off the Comoros Islands, between Africa and Madagascar. For sixty years this was presumed to be the only Coelacanth population in existence.

On 14th July 2007, a Coelacanth was caught by fishermen off Nungwi, Northern Zanzibar. Researchers from the Institute of Marine Sciences, Zanzibar (IMS) led by Dr Narriman Jiddawi were contacted and arrived on site to identify the fish as Latimeria chalumnae.

In 2003 the IMS joined efforts with the African Coelacanth Project (ACEP) programme to search for Coelacanths. On 6th September 2003 the first coelacanth was caught in the southern part of Tanzania at Songo Mnara making Tanzania the sixth country to record the presence of the L. chalumnae. Since then, 35 coelacanths have been recorded in Tanzania ranging from Tanga in the north, south to Mtwara. The Nungwi specimen is the 36th coelacanth to be caught in Tanzania and the first for Zanzibar. Narriman Jiddawi is acknowledged for providing this information and the image.

Sulawesi Coelacanth

On July 30 1998, a Coelacanth was caught in a deep-water shark net by local fishers off the volcanic island of Manado Tua in northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. This is about 10 000 km east of the Western Indian Ocean Coelacanth population. The fisher brought the fish to the house of American biologist Mark Erdmann who along with his wife Arnaz had seen a specimen in the outdoor markets the previous September. The local people were familiar with the Coelacanth and called it raja laut or 'king of the sea'. This fish turned out to be a new species.

The discovery of this new Coelacanth in Sulawesi, opens up the possibility that Coelacanths may be more widespread and abundant than was previously assumed.


Distribution by collection data
Biomaps map of Coelacanth specimens in the Australian Museum collection.

What does this mean?


Fossils
The Coelacanth specimen caught in 1938 is still considered to be the zoological find of the century. This 'living fossil' comes from a lineage of fishes that was thought to have been extinct since the time of the dinosaurs.

Coelacanths are known from the fossil record dating back over 360 million years, with a peak in abundance about 240 million years ago. Before 1938 they were believed to have become extinct approximately 80 million years ago, when they disappeared from the fossil record.

How could Coelacanths disappear for over 80 million years and then turn up alive and well in the twentieth century? The answer seems to be that the Coelacanths from the fossil record lived in environments favouring fossilisation. Modern Coelacanths, both in the Comoros and Sulawesi were found in environments that do not favour fossil formation. They inhabit caves and overhangs in near vertical marine reefs, at about 200 m depth, off newly formed volcanic islands.

The discovery by science of the Coelacanth in 1938 caused so much excitement because at that time Coelacanths were thought to be the ancestors of the tetrapods (land-living animals, including humans). It is now believed that Lungfishes are the closest living relative of tetrapods. The Coelacanth may still provide answers to some very interesting evolutionary questions.


Living with us

Economic/social impacts
The Australian Museum collection contains one Coelacanth specimen (AMS IB.7555). It was captured off the Comoros Islands, and purchased by the Trustees of the Australian Museum in 1965. The fish was transported to the Western Australian Museum by the US RV Atlantis, where it starred briefly in the Perth media. It was then sent by air to the Australian Museum. Once on display it became affectionately known as the 'wishing fish'. Visitors dropped coins through a small crack in the holding case of the tank and made a wish. Unfortunately after a time the coins discoloured the liquid in the tank, and the practice was stopped. The Coelacanth has been on display in several different exhibitions.


Classification
Species:chalumnaeGenus:LatimeriaFamily:LatimeriidaeOrder:CoelacanthiformesClass:SarcopterygiiSubphylum:VertebrataPhylum:ChordataKingdom:Animalia"http://australianmuseum.net.au/Coelacanth-Latimeria-chalumnae-Smith-1939

[Guest ZeTomes]

What I'm doing is linking to an image I have uploaded to the net. I use photobucket, and I also have my own webspace available through my ISP. In both cases I upload the images to whichever one I wish and then use Photobucket is pretty handy though.

RayG

which of the examples above fits you best?

PS: I'm noting that there's a variation of zooming resizes between upload images and linked images...

Wondering why uploaded images don't stuck to 800 X 600 as linked imagess do...

Edited June 1, 2011 by ZeTomes

[Guest RayG]

Ohh.... I got it, by using adanced editing options....

Ray, from now on images will be resized to the maximum possible dimension previous of zooming expansion. Is that ok for you?

w: 606

h: 806

Ha, no worries. If you hover your mouse over your images, you'll see a drastic difference in the size of each pic. The largest is 212.92k, while the smallest is 20.81k. The larger the size of the image, the longer it takes to load. Using Irfanview, I grabbed a screen copy of your post, cropped the pic of the gar, and resaved it as a jpg image, cutting the size of the file down to an even smaller 15.3k even though the screen dimensions are the same.

Here's the 15.3k image. Doesn't lack any of the detail of the 212.92k image, but it loads nearly 15 times faster.

Of all the images you show in post #34, the fastest to load would be the fitable_medium one at 20.81k.

All of them are a vast improvement over the original one you posted on page one.

RayG

[Guest]

Naked Mole Rat

Endowed with pinkish-gray, wrinkly skin, scant hair, and long buck teeth, naked mole-rats (Heterocephalus glaber) aren’t likely to win any beauty contests. Some might refer to them as downright ugly, resembling an overcooked hotdog with teeth. Nonetheless, biologists and zoogoers are enchanted with these bizarre rodents.

There are approximately 30 different kinds of mole rats. The best known is probably the naked mole rat, whose hairless, tubular, wrinkled body makes it appear a bit like a tiny walrus—or perhaps a bratwurst with teeth.

Naked mole rats are rodents, but they live in communities like those of many insects. Several dozen rats live together in colonies led by one dominant rat—the queen. As in some insect species, the queen is the only naked mole rat female to breed and bear young.

Worker animals dig the burrows that the whole clan inhabits, using their prominent teeth and snouts. They also gather the roots and bulbs for the colony to eat. Other rats tend to the queen.

Most other types of mole rats live on their own or in small families. Blind mole rats do have tiny eyes, but they are located beneath their skin and fur. These animals rely on sensitive hairs to feel their way through their underground burrows. Though mole rats spend most of their time excavating and foraging in their burrows, they occasionally emerge to search for seeds or other plants.

Mole rats have a wide geographical distribution and can live below sea level or high on mountainside plains. Because of their burrowing lifestyle, they do prefer areas with sandy or loamy soil. Many mole rat species are found in sub-Saharan Africa. Blind mole rats are found primarily in southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and Mediterranean North Africa.

[Guest RayG]

Those mole rats look a bit like my grandmother, except her teeth were removable.

Oh, c'mon, I'm kidding. Sort of.

RayG

[Guest RayG]

If memory serves me correctly, we used to be able to upload images directly to the BFF from our hard-drive in the old days.

Doh!! I see it there. How long has that option been available???

RayG

[Guest ZeTomes]

Ha, no worries. If you hover your mouse over your images, you'll see a drastic difference in the size of each pic. The largest is 212.92k, while the smallest is 20.81k. The larger the size of the image, the longer it takes to load. Using Irfanview, I grabbed a screen copy of your post, cropped the pic of the gar, and resaved it as a jpg image, cutting the size of the file down to an even smaller 15.3k even though the screen dimensions are the same.

Here's the 15.3k image. Doesn't lack any of the detail of the 212.92k image, but it loads nearly 15 times faster.

Of all the images you show in post #34, the fastest to load would be the fitable_medium one at 20.81k.

All of them are a vast improvement over the original one you posted on page one.

RayG

My only problem there is just the dimensions of the image (it varies from uploading and linking). Still trying to figure how to upload an image keeping (without zoom) the 800x600 dimensions. Any clue?

[Guest RayG]

The board seems to automatically resize 800 x 600 images down to something smaller.

And thanks for bringing attention to this, I truly didn't realize that we could attach images again like in the old days. People at work wonder how I can reply so quickly to an email with an included relevant image, and I tell them Google is my best friend.

I shall have to try direct uploads now instead of photobucket to see how it goes.

RayG

[Guest ZeTomes]

The board seems to automatically resize 800 x 600 images down to something smaller.

And thanks for bringing attention to this, I truly didn't realize that we could attach images again like in the old days. People at work wonder how I can reply so quickly to an email with an included relevant image, and I tell them Google is my best friend.

I shall have to try direct uploads now instead of photobucket to see how it goes.

RayG

You're welcome!

Don't get me wrong Ray, but I really want to make the photographs vivid (the reason for such immense size) so that the viewer feel atachement to the reality of the image. Until I find a way to upload an image keeping the 800X600 dimensions, I'll continue using the linking option but not as huge as aligator gar. Is that ok for you?

Cheers

Edited June 1, 2011 by ZeTomes

[Incorrigible1]

The Japanese giant salamander. (Edit to note this is a photo I found on google. It's either the Japanese or Chinese giant salamander.)

I was aware of the creature, but Jeremy Wade recently captured a couple:

Fascinating, living fossil from the dawn of land-dwellers. And they'll bite the dickens out of you.

Edited June 1, 2011 by Incorrigible1