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Bizzle had a hard day, what with people telling him he has the face of a dog and all. So he came home and treated himself to a snack of Dunkaroos. This trick has been done a lot, but rarely this well. -via reddit
When I was a kid and Crocodile Dundee was popular (I predate Steve Irwin’s fame by about a decade, apparently), I was terrified that I’d find myself in some isolated swamp full of crocodiles, and that those crocodiles would, of course, want to eat me. I was maybe too young to watch the movie. Anyway, it turns out my horrible nightmare about crocodiles politely chewing me up was not only improbable but also inaccurate: crocodiles can’t even chew.
Yes, it’s true. Despite their fearsome reputation, crocodiles can’t chew. But that’s not to say they won’t kill you—in fact, death by crocodile is probably more agonizing precisely because they’re unable to masticate.
Great! I feel way better about this. Get the details of crocodiles’ etiquette-free eating habits on Mental_floss. Link
Image: MartinRe
A new study has found that around 15% of all snails eaten by hungry birds survive the ordeal and live to be eaten another day. In fact, one of the snails in the study immediately gave birth right after she crawled out of the bird’s waste.
Ronnie the 7-month-old Rottweiler has megaoesophagus, an incurable condition that makes it impossible for him to eat or drink like other dogs. He cannot swallow properly, and relies on gravity to get his kibble to his stomach. Therefore, it can take up to 20 minutes to spoon-feed him.
Staff at Leeds Dogs Trust rehoming centre have helped to make life easier for Ronnie after they designed and built him a special feeding station.
Manager Amanda Sands said: “We’ve fed Ronnie standing up since he came to the centre with his littermates aged seven weeks but now that he is bigger we can’t support and feed him at the same time.
“We designed the feeding station so he can support himself while we spoon-feed him. He happily gets in by himself.
“We’re going to decorate it so it will look nice in his home when he hopefully gets one.”
Ronnie will only be adopted out to a home in which he can receive the time and attention he needs. Link -via Arbroath
Ever wonder why our body temperature is 98.6 °F (37 °C)? Scientists at Yeshiva University discovered the answer.
Turns out that our normal body temperature is the perfect balance of being warm enough to ward off fungal infection but not so hot that we need to eat all the time to maintain metabolism:
"One of the mysteries about humans and other advanced mammals has been why they are so hot compared with other animals," said study co-author Arturo Casadevall, [...] "This study helps to explain why mammalian temperatures are all around 37° C."
The research builds upon earlier work by Dr. Casadevall showing that the number of fungal species that can thrive and therefore infect an animal declines by 6 percent for every 1° C rise in temperature. This means that tens of thousands of fungal species infect reptiles, amphibians and other cold-blooded animals, but only a few hundred harm mammals. Such protection against fungal infection, Dr. Casadevall has speculated, could have been crucial for the triumph of mammals following the age of dinosaurs.
Link (Photo: Shutterstock)
As the economy sputters, everyone’s looking for new ways to save on food. So, we’ve collected a whole bunch of no-budget meal ideas for those of you daring enough to scrimp.
1. Tree Bark
A classic meal of human desperation, tree bark has become a must-have meal during periods of scarcity. But you don’t have to eat it al dente the way termites and beavers do. Inhabitants of the Lapland in Finland, for example, are known to make bread with ground tree bark during cruel winter months, and several Native American groups use tree bark as a dietary supplement. In fact, the Adirondack Mountains derive their name from a derisive term for the Algonquin Indians that means “tree eaters”.
Not all bark is equally edible, so you’ll have to experiment with your neighborhood flora. Some popular favorites include aspen, birch, willow, maple, and pine -trees common in cities and forests alike. So sharpen your teeth and dig in!
How to Prepare
For the choicest strips of bark, be sure to go for the nutritious, tender inner layer known as the cambium. (Eating the outer bark would be no more pleasant than chomping into your bookshelf.) If some resin or gum oozes out as you pry off the main course, be sure to lap it up for quick energy. Here are a few fun ways to serve tree bark:
Raw. Shred finely and chew thoroughly.
Slice it into strips and boil it to make a rustic pasta. Top with sap, dandelion greens, or insect parts (see entry #2). Alternatively, you can add the noodles to a stew.
Dry and grind into flour. The ground bark is pretty versatile and can be mixed with water into a breakfast gruel, baked into bread, added to soup for extra body, or even guzzled straight like a Pixy Stick.
2. Bugs
With more than 10 quintillion of these creepy crawlies infesting the planet, bugs are a virtually limitless source of protein and flavor. Bug eating exists in nearly every culture; in fact, approximately 10 percent of the protein consumed around the world comes from bugs! There are grasshopper tacos, steamed ant eggs, and even fried tarantulas. In the United States, the FDA permits a limited number of insect parts in commercial foods, such as five fly maggots per pound of pizza sauce. While most of our big eating in this country is unintentional, it doesn’t have to be.
How to Prepare
In general, avoid brightly colored bugs, which tend to be poisonous, and always be sure to remove any shells, wings, or other textural offenses. Also, cook them before eating to kill off the inevitable parasites. Beyond that, each bug has its own qualities to consider. Here are a few of the more traditional cooking methods.
Crickets and grasshoppers: First, pluck off the barbed legs, because they can chafe your digestive tract. Then, roast the body for a snack that’s both crunchy and nutritious.
Ants: Boil for six minutes to neutralize the formic acid of the stingers. After that, inhale them by the handful.
Caterpillars: They can give you a mouthful of tiny hairs, like licking a kiwi, so bite off the heads and then squeeze the insides into a pot. Boil and serve warm.
Worms: The dirt from the insides must be removed before they can be eaten. This can be done by starving them for one day, or squeezing out the dirt by hand.
3. Leather
Transforming your wardrobe into your pantry is simple. Shoes, jackets, and biker pants make meals both fashionable and filling. In fact, in every era, leather has been enjoyed by the starving masses. Indomitable explorers, stranded pirates, famine-stricken peasants, and even emaciated prisoners have downed a shoe or two. Just two years ago, when Chinese miners in Beijing were trapped underground for nearly a week, they survived on nothing but pieces of paper and a leather belt.
How to Prepare
Before cooking, rinse and dice the (preferably undyed) leather, then pound the pieces between stones to tenderize. For a satisfying soup, you can boil the leather until relatively tender, then add seasonings such as dried worms and nettles. Leather can also be chopped up and roasted to make nutritious chips. And remember to drink plenty of water; leather’s generally as dry as a bone.
4. Dirt
No matter how bad the economy gets, there will always be enough dirt to go around. Soil can provide essential minerals. Think of it as a no-budget replacement for your expensive multivitamin supplements. In fact, dirt eating, known as geophagy, is so prevalent in some parts of the world that scientists and anthropologists think that nutritional deficits may bring on the craving. Even in the modern United States, reports persist that poor and rural Southerners still indulge in select soils by the spoonful, a custom that may have been brought over from West Africa.
How to Prepare
The secret to good dirt eating is simply to choose wisely. Soil that is rich in clay tastes the best, and it can be enhanced by adding salt and vinegar. When you find a good source, save some in a plastic bag so you can snack on it all day long. Of course, if you’re looking to enjoy the original mud pie, garnishing the meal with a few worms never hurts.
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The No-Budget Diner’s Guide was written by David Clark and appeared in the Scatterbrained section of the September-October 2009 issue of mental_floss magazine. It is reprinted here with permission.
Don’t forget to feed your brain by subscribing to the magazine and visiting mental_floss‘ extremely entertaining website and blog today for more!
Ants are such amazing creatures! Able to work together to create vast underground empires and take down almost any animal of any size…even humans! So, what happens when a creature such as the crab ends up getting the ants attention? In a Goliath vs. David (x100 or so) situation a crab thinks its protective armor is a deterrent preventing the ants from killing it, guess again. I can’t imagine what it must feel like having something start eating you from the inside out. O_O
From the BBC show “Ant Attack”.
I just can’t stop watching this hypnotic video of a cat mindlessly licking food from the man’s fingers. It’s so funny and yet, somehow disturbing.
Link Via Giggle Sugar
Keep watching to where he starts licking his little tiny hands. It’s fantasmical.
Link Via GiggleSugar
I have to say, this song, like the wiener dog song, will be in my head for weeks to come. But it is so worth it just to see the little hamster in critter heaven munching on his popcorn no matter what else happens.
Link Via Laughing Squid
