Fitz and I both recently wrote about the purposeful and not-so-purposeful human consumption of bugs. Bugs are apparently a hot topic. More big bug news follows.

When I say "big," I mean BIG. Like 11 centimeters long big. Like hamster big.

A huge beetle was just found in London, on a boat delivering bananas from Costa Rica to South America. Animal experts have identified the bug as a male elephant beetle -- an endangered species from the rainforests. They're calling him "Bill" and have taken him to a zoo in Cambridge.

Bill has conquered one amazing feat: He traveled thousands of miles and was probably sprayed with a multitude of chemicals to ward off insects. And he survived. He was rescued just in time. Good thing for him -- the poor guy would have eventually been frozen along with the fruit on his journey -- and good thing for humans since one of could have one day discovered Bill amongst our bundle of bananas.

Source

Whenever I see field-tripping kids at the zoo or other event with giant name tags on, my stranger-danger alarm always goes off. After all, when an adult knows their name, kids are less likely to be cautious. Many schools now send their kids with tags that only contain the school name, or sometimes the kids wear school t-shirts, which also makes them easier to spot in a crowd.

A mom of three developed an ingenious way for educators or parents to reconnect with wandering children, the Safety Tat. This temporary tattoo goes on the child's arm and includes a parent's cell phone number. If a child gets separated from their family, they can find the nearest helpful adult and be quickly located.

Think you're doing everything you can to keep your child safe on outings? Take this safety quiz to make sure.

Source

An interesting experiment happened over in England recently at the Paignton Zoo -- a group of volunteers set up camp outside the ape enclosure and promised to eat like monkeys for 12 days. The Evo Diet, created by a nutritionist, consisted of raw fruits and vegetables (plus some cooked fish that was added the second week), provided 2,300 calories, and met adult human daily nutritional requirements. And of course they had water to drink.

The experiment was designed to show that blood pressure and cholesterol could be lowered by eliminating the processed and fatty foods of today's diets -- and it worked! Overall cholesterol levels dropped 23%, the groups blood pressure average fell by several points, and on average they each lost 9.7 pounds. And on top of it all, the people participating reported feeling energetic and happy the whole time.

Not too shabby -- would you do it?


Via Slashfood

Source

We're getting pretty conscious of what good disease and infection control means in this country, what with instant hand sanitizers, toilet seat covers, and signs reminding us to wash our hands in public bathrooms. But somehow all that great effort flies right out the window when it comes to petting zoos, where the majority of safety precautions to limit people's exposure to organisms like E. coli, salmonella, cryptosporidium, and campylobacter are frequently not followed. The simplest of interventions, like washing hands when leaving the petting zoo, were not done by people as often as 77% of the time in a recent survey.

Now that you know there's no excuses: wash your hands! And save the snacks and drinks for later.

Source

Apparently, the obesity epidemic isn't limited to humans -- it stretches to animals too, particularly Panda Bears. A panda in China, named Xuang Xuang, had been put on a diet in order to successfully mate with his partner Lin Hui. He's about 10kg overweight -- which is just enough to hurt his chances at mating. And since Pandas are an endangered species, it's especially important that they are able to produce offspring.

I find it alarming that it only takes an extra 10kg (that's 22 lbs!) to hurt this guy's chance at having a Xuang Xuang jr. Does extra weight also affect the chances of humans who are trying to conceive?

Source