photo credit: Laurie R. Godfrey, U. of Mass., Amherst

The lemurs at the Detroit zoo are much more lucky. The story goes that one little lemur snapped its femur while jumping around on a branch. It received surgery on its broken leg by Michigan Veterinary Specialists. Perhaps, cuddling and mating are safer activities for these accident-prone creatures…

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Many lemurs are illegally slaughtered in Madagascar and sold as a delicacy to greedy restaurant owners. Traps and slingshots kill the animals which are then quickly smoked.

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Devil’s weed

The devil’s weed or datura stramonium plant. The tropane alkaloids in the plant can cause powerful visual and audio hullucinations in those who eat it and leave them in a trance-like or delirious state which can last for several days. The plant can also cause seizures and death.

Devil’s ivy

Also known as the Golden Pothos and scientifically termed as Epipiremnum Aureum, the Devil’s ivy is a beautiful vine plant with leaves that are marbled and golden in color as per the name. Even if this plant is not taken care off, it thrives on and continues growing. This plant acts as an excellent natural anti-pollutant against common pollutants like benzene, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide. However, you should take care that this plant is not ingested in any way even by your own pet dog.

Devil’s Tongue

Also known as konjak, konjaku, voodoo lily, snake palm, or elephant yam, is a perennial plant that has been used in China and Japan for over 2,000 years. The starchy tuber, a member of the yam family, is not unlike taro, hence its Chinese name mo yu, which means ‘devil’s taro’. In Japan it is known as ‘devil’s tongue’ or konnyaku. Through a complicated process similar to the making of tofu, the large brown roots are peeled, boiled, mashed and then mixed with dissolved limestone to coagulate.

Devil’s Club

Also called Devil’s walking stick and for good reason…the plant is covered with sharp spiny thorns.  Also called Echinopanax horridum.  It is in the Araliaceae (or Aralia) family and very closely related to Ginsing. The berries are poisonous but have been used to kill lice by mashing them up and applying the paste to the hair.  This also treats dandruff and makes the hair shiny.

Devil’s Beggar-tick

Devil’s Beggar-tick is one of several species of beggar-tick, plants with seeds that “hitch a ride” on animals and clothing. Each fruit is loaded with tiny flat seeds. Each seed has two barbs (like a fishhook) which will catch on anything soft that brushes against it. Most often seeds grab onto animal fur or a person’s clothing. Because of the plant’s height, people usually end up picking seeds, sometimes called “hitchhikers,” from their socks. Seeds are also eaten by ducks and other birds.

Creeping Devil

Creeping Devil (Stenocereus eruca)  is one of the most distinctive cacti, a member of the relatively small genus Stenocereus. Creeping Devil lies on the ground and grows at one end while the other end slowly dies, with a succession of new roots developing on the underside of the stem. This traveling chain of growth gives rise to the name eruca, which means “caterpillar” as well as the common name Creeping Devil.

Devil’s Tongue Hot  Pepper

The peppers are beginning to turn some beautiful colors. This plant is called the ‘Devils Tongue’. Devils Tongue – extremely hot; Habanero Elongated Type; 2 to 3 inches long by 1 to 1.5 inches wide; matures from green to golden yellow; pendant pods; green leaves; 30 to 36 inches tall; Late Season; this pepper is outrageously hot!

Devil’s Claw

Devil’s claw does not have an odor, but it contains substances that make it taste bitter. It is a leafy perennial with branching roots and shoots. It has secondary roots, called tubers, that grow out of the main roots. The roots and tubers are used for medicinal purposes. Devil’s Claw – used to treat inflammation, relieve pain and swelling, as well as, treat water retention. Devil’s Claw has also been used for liver, gall bladder and kidney ailments, lymphatic system toxicity, diabetes, respiratory ailments and indigestion.

Devil’s Tongue Barrel

The Devil’s Tongue Barrel or Crows Claw Cactus is quite popular because it blooms very early with pinkish purple or yellow flowers. They come in late autumn to early winter and need moderate amount of bright sunlight to form. It got its name from the bigger thorn that grows in the center of all the thorn rosettes.

Devil’s Backbone

Devil Backbone is also known as the Variegated Devil’s Backbone, Redbird Cactus, Slipper Flower and Jacob’s Ladder. The botanical name is Pedilanthus tithymaloides ‘Variegatus’ and it is a most unusual plant. Although it looks like it should be growing in an aquarium, the common name of Devil’s backbone is apt for this plant, since the stems of each alternate leaf bend left or right, producing a mischievous zigzag effect.  The fleshy stems and leaves of the Pedilanthus contain an acrid milky sap which can cause skin irritation and is especially harmful to eyes and open cuts. It is difficult to wash off and will cause an upset stomach, if ingested.

Seemingly undeterred by his lack of a playmate, the young bear tossed the stick up and down and at one point even appeared to wave at the camera as he frolicked on ice close to Fairbanks, Alaska.

The teenage male was captured by Photographer Steven John Kazlowski, who has been photographing polar bears in the region for the past 11 years.
Playful: The polar bear tosses the stick in the air as he bounds about on the ice close to Fairbanks, Alaska

Hello there: The young bear appears to wave at the camera as he plays in the snow

The boisterous bear seemed fascinated by the stick, playing with it for three hours at the Arctic National Wildlife refuge. Steven explained: ‘This is very normal behaviour for a teenage Polar Bear.  ‘They’re very playful and curious animals at this age.

Improvising: The bear enjoyed his game for nearly three hours

‘I had been tracking this one bear for two months. He seemed to love that stick and would play with it for two or three hours everyday.’  Steven, 39, is the author of The Last Polar Bear and tours universities and lecture theatres across the US in a bid to raise awareness of the uncertain future of the animals.

Normal behaviour: Teenage polar bears are typically playful and boisterous

Mobile office is also used for the workspace of salespeople or similar, working out of their company office. They are usually equipped with a portable computer and connect to the company servers and Intranet via mobile phones, WiFi or via fixed connections in cybercafes, hotels and airports.

This office is designed for those who work at home and who did not get to retire on time. It can be installed in the garden or in the yard and become lost in the working weekdays.

5. Arctic Ocean 5,450 m (17,881 ft) Litke Deep, Eurasian Basin

Litke Deep is a sea trench situated at the northeast of Greenland in the Eurasia Basin in the Arctic Ocean. The Litke is the deepest point in the Arctic Ocean with 5,450 meters.

The Eurasian Basin, is one of the two main basins into which the North Polar Basin of the Arctic Ocean is split by the Lomonosov Ridge. It is an addition of the North Atlantic Basin. It is more split by the Nansen-Gakkel Ridge hooked on the Nansen Basin and the Fram Basin. The last basin is deeper one of the Arctic Oceans and has the geographic North Pole is situated at this floor.

4. Southern Ocean 7,235 m (23,737 ft) South Sandwich Trench

The South Sandwich Trench is a deep exact trench in the South Atlantic Ocean lying 100 km to the eastern side of the South Sandwich Islands. The ditch also known as trench is shaped by the subduction of the southernmost part of the South American Plate beneath the little South Sandwich cover. The South Sandwich Islands is a formation of a volcanic island arc which outcome from this functioning subduction. Mount Belinda is the active volcano located at Montagu Island.

3. Indian Ocean 7,258 m (23,812 ft) Java Trench

The Sunda Trench, previously known as, and at times still specified as the Java Trench, situated in the northeastern Indian Ocean, with area of 2,600 km and utmost of 7,725 meters, is the deeper point of the Indian Ocean. It stretches from the smaller Sunda Islands past Java, about the southern shore of Sumatra on to the Andaman islands, about 300 km off the shores of Java and Sumatra, and forms the border between Indo-Australian Plate and Eurasian cover.

2.Atlantic Ocean 8,648 m (28,373 ft) Milwaukee Deep, Puerto Rico Trench

Milwaukee, also recognized as the Milwaukee Depth, is the deeper division of the Atlantic Ocean and is sectioning of the Puerto Rico Trench. It has an utmost deepness of 27,493 feet. It is only 84 miles of the area towards northwest of the shore of Puerto Rico.

The Puerto Rico Trench is an ocean ditch situated on the boundary among the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The ditch of a trench is linked with a multifaceted change between the subduction region to the south along the Lesser Antilles island arc and the main renovate fault zone or platter border that expands west among Cuba and Hispaniola through the Cayman Trench to the shore of Central America.

1. Pacific Ocean 10,923 m (35,837 ft) Challenger Deep, Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is the depth identified division of the world’s oceans, and the lowest height of the surface of the Earth’s shell. It is situated in the western Pacific Ocean, towards the east side of the Mariana Islands. The ditch is about 2,550 km long but has a mean thickness of only 69 km. It attains utmost deepness of about 11,033 meters at the Challenger Deep, a little slit-formed basin in its floor.

Squirrels love to nest in the air filter compartment. They will fill it with seeds and nuts which chokes the car to a stop.  Never know what might be under the hood trying to stay warm.

It doesn’t mean that the squirrels are sick but that they have mites living on their skin. There’s not much that can be done for the squirrels.