Andrewsarchus

Surfing the internet this morning, I accidentally stumbled upon the largest carnivorous mammal to have ever existed: the andrewsarchus mongliensis. The andrewsarchus was the largest of a wholly extinct genus of carnivorous ungulates (hoofed animals).

More from Wikipedia:

Andrewsarchus is known only from an enormous, meter-long skull and pieces of bone, but the skull's similarity to that of smaller mesonychids suggests that Andrewsarchus had the same wolf-like body on a larger scale. Extrapolating from the body proportions of similar mesonychids, Andrewsarchus was most likely about 4-6 metres (13-18 feet) long, standing nearly 2 metres (6 feet) at the shoulder, making it the largest terrestrial carnivorous mammal that has ever existed. It probably averaged about 1500 kilograms in weight with some exceptional animals over 2000 kilograms, making it over twice as heavy as most Kodiak brown bears, and rather heavier than a Percheron horse.

The skull of Andrewsarchus was found in Late Eocene sediments in what is now Mongolia. As there has only been a skull and a few bones found, it is still too premature to speculate on its time range, beyond being a Late Eocene apex predator.

To judge from its immense jaws, and the coastal location of the fossils, Andrewsarchus may have fed on beached primitive whales, shellfish and hard-shelled turtles, and contemporary large mammals at various periods during its existence. Toward the end of the Eocene very large mammals (such as the brontotheres) had evolved in the region of Central Asia. Andrewsarchus possessed some of the strongest jaws ever evolved in a land mammal, able to bite through large bones if needed.

Despite the enormous jaws and very sturdy teeth, Andrewsarchus did not have teeth adapted for the carnassial shear, though its immensely powerful jaws rendered such an adaptation unnecessary. Judging by its sheer size, the animal fed on large animals such as the extinct brontotheres, which were among the largest herbivorous mammals at the time. Simply scavenging smaller animals would not have required a body and jaws of the size that Andrewsarchus possessed (over twice that of a modern brown bear). It was not adapted to eating plants or digging, and hence could not enjoy an omnivorous lifestyle as do pigs and bears today. Most likely, it fed off of brontotheres, possibly both hunting them, and scavenging already dead carcasses.

By the mid Oligocene, the Creodonts supplanted both the Mesonychids, and giant flightless predatory birds entirely in North America, Eurasia and Africa, and in turn, competed with their relatives, the true carnivores until the last creodont genus, Dissopsalis, went extinct about 8 million years ago. The order Carnivora includes such animals as the dogs, cats, and bears. Various species of Carnivora have now spread (partly assisted by humans) to every continent, as well as most islands, and have replaced most other large non-avian terrestrial predators worldwide.

the Berbalangs of Cagayan!

I happened upon this story in a book entitled "Oddities" by Rupert T Gould. It was published in 1965 and the account references a previous text by a Mr. Ethelbert Forbes Sketcherly, which appeared in the Asiatic Society of Bengal's Journal in 1896. There is little hope of the tale related having any factual connection, but it is an interesting bit of lore nonetheless. I would also like to illustrate that the Sketcherly text appears to be the original and only text on the subject, for every subsequent account I have found (and there are few) are nearly exact replicas of the original story; the story of the Berbalangs of Cagayan!! (duh duh duhhh!)

From the Sketcherly text:

"These Berbalangs are ghouls.They dip open the graves and eat the entrails of the corpses;but in Cagayan the supply of cadavers is limited,so when they feel the craving for human flesh they go away into the grass,and having carefully hidden their bodies,hold their breathe and fall into a trance.Their astral bodies are then liberated,whereupon they fly away,and entering a house they invade the body of one of the occupants and feed on his entrails.You can always tell them because their pupils are not round,but just narrow slits like those of a cat.They may be heard coming,as they always make a moaning noise which is loud at a distance and dies away to a feeble moan as they approach.When they are near you the sound of their wings may be heard and the flashing lights of their eyes can be seen dancing like fireflies in the dark."It is said that the only way to beat them off is with a "kris"a blade which has been rubbed with lime juice.

more from Unsolved Mysteries:

Mr. Skertchleys first lecture on these creatures took place in Hong Kong,and of course he was not beleived,but he had faith that someday he would be taken seriously about what he ahd witnessed that year.The Berbalangs had a habit of treating their guests to what looks liks curried fish,but in actuality it was human flesh.Once you ate of it,your soul was destroyed and you yourself became a Berbalang,however,if before eating you sprinkle your food with lime juice the food will resume it's natural shape.Mr. Skertchley spoke to many an audience,and of course,the people treated it as a joke.In February 1899,Mr. Skertchley had taken a journey to Tibet to confer with the Lama,on his way he disappeared,he was never seen or heard from again,some now beleive he was spirited away by the dreaded Berbalangs.

And for you enjoyment, from the book, "More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," The Berbalangs of Sulu (which, minuse the last line and names, is nearly word for word the story in "Oddities" and the Sketcherly article)From (sigh) a fortunecity page:

Many years back, Andrew Simmons, an English explorer, visited a small island of Cagayan Sulu. It is a lonely spot of land in the Sulu Sea between the Philippine Islands and Malaysia. There are strange stories in the island related to a tribe of cannibals with cat's eyes called 'Berbalangs'.

When hunger for human flesh urged them, they will lie down in tall grass. They will then fall into a trance and go hunting for victims in their winged forms, while their bodies lie hidden behind tall grass.

The people of Cagayan Sulu have been living in fear of these Berbalangs for generations. They warned Andrew that the Berbalangs make horrid moaning noises that are loud when they are far away, but grow fainter as they approach. When they are very close to you, the sound of wings flapping could be heard and their eyes would move in the dark, like fireflies.

They told Andrew that a coconut pearl (an opal rarely found in the coconut) would keep him safe from the Berbalangs. Without one, the only defence is a kris (a local traditional knife) with its blade rubbed with lemon juice. He tried to buy a coconut pearl, but found out later that it would only protect the one who discovered it. It would be powerless if given or sold.

Andrew asked if anyone would come with him to see the tribe. Only one brave young man, Matali, volunteered. They started in the morning and finally reached the Berbalangs's settlement in the late afternoon. Matali refused to go any closer, "We've seen it. Now, let's go."

"We're not stopping now," Andrew insisted that they go on further.

"I am not going in there! If you insist, you go alone!"

Matali smeared his kris with some lemon juice and handed it to the daring yet somewhat ignorant explorer. So, Andrew went in alone. The place looked deserted, only a few chickens and a goat remained. However, in one hut, Andrew saw some rice boiling in a pot, as if someone had just left it there.

Andrew went back to Matali and told him what he discovered. Matali begged the Englishman to leave, saying that the Berbalangs were hunting in their other form. It would be a suicide to stay there any longer. As the sun was already setting, they finally make their journey home.

Before they were even half way back, it was already dark. Suddenly, there was this loud moaning noise. "The Berbalangs…" Matali whispered in fear. "Pray they will pass by without noticing us." They both hid behind the grass. The moaning grew fainter and fainter which meant the Berbalangs were getting closer and closer to them. Soon, the sound of flapping wings could be heard. Matali and Andrew began to fear the worse when they saw 'fireflies' flying over the tall grass. They halted for a second, as if they noticed something hidden in the grass, but then left. The moaning began to grow louder and Matali sighed with relief. "They're gone," he said. "We're safe for now. Hurry up, we must go!"

The two raced for Matali's village. As they ran beneath the tall grass, they could hear the moaning noises which slowly and gradually grew fainter and fainter. At one point, Andrew saw an isolated house. "We must help the people inside," he told Matali.

"The man who lives there, Hassan, has a coconut pearl," Matali said. "Now hurry! We have to escape."

Andrew followed Matali and they got back to their safe village after a short while. In the morning, Andrew laughed at himself for believing that story. He thought it was silly to let Matali's fear and some fireflies scared him. When he met Matali later that day, Andrew, however, asked about Hassan. Matali said he lied about Hassan owning a coconut pearl. Hassan had arrived a week before Andrew on some research expedition to learn more about the island. Matali reckoned Hassan could probably be died by now.

Andrew, insisting that the story was mere superstition and was not true, decided to prove himself right by inviting Matali to go to Hassan's house with him. When the two of them got to Hassan's house, no one answered to their calls. They then realized the door was not locked, so they went in. They saw a desk, with papers scattered everywhere on the floor. Matali went into room while Andrew walked towards the desk and see what was there. Suddenly he backed away and shouted for Matali. In the corner of the desk was Hassan - only his skeleton with a few scraps of flesh clutching a shredded paper.

Suddenly, they heard moaning noises outside growing fainter and fainter. And fainter....

the Golden Record

A little history about a bit of human culture that will survive the extinction of our solar system.

The Facts:

The Voyager Golden Record is a phonograph record included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977. It contains sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. It is intended for any intelligent extraterrestrial life form, or far future humans, that may find it. The Voyager spacecraft will take about 40,000 years to come near another star, 'near' meaning in this case within around 1.7 light-years' distance; hence, if other beings do not come in the direction of the spacecraft to meet them, it will take at least that long for the Golden Record to be found.

As the probes are extremely small compared to the vastness of interstellar space, it is extraordinarily unlikely that they will ever be intercepted. If they are ever found by an alien species, it will be far in the future and the aliens may not even have technology able to play the record or the biology to see or feel the images, and thus the record is best seen as a symbolic statement rather than a serious attempt to communicate with aliens.

The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, and thunder, and animal sounds, including the songs of birds and whales. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earthlings in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim.

After NASA had received much criticism over the "smut" on the Pioneer plaque (line drawings of a naked man and woman), the agency chose not to allow Sagan and his colleagues to include a photograph of a nude man and a nude, pregnant woman on the record. Instead, only a silhouette of the couple was included.

By the time it reaches anything that can make sense of it, it will probably be old news.

Spolier Alert!

I heard through the grapevine today that eggs never go bad. This sounded fishy to me, so I came home on this very nice day to check it out. Here's the facts:

Eggs apparently can spoli if the shell is compromised (i.e. cracked), but it seems that they primarily just run the risk of "not being as good." It seems that the yolk becomes thinner, and the white runnier with time, but otherwise the only thing you need worry about is the egg drying up. If your eggs comes out in one solid clump, or in a powder, you should probably try getting a fresher batch. Otherwise, eat up!

From Learn More About Eggs.

Cordyceps strikes again!

This time in video.


Link to a previous post on Cordyceps.

St. Valentine's Day Massacre

I figure I should clear up a bit of my Chicago history. I know that the St. Valentines incident was a massacre, and I know that it involved mobster in prohibition era Chicago, but I felt I should tighten up the facts a bit now that I live here.

Here's some facts:

The Saint Valentine's Day Massacre is the name given to the shooting of seven people (six of them gangsters) as part of a Prohibition Era conflict between two powerful criminal gangs in Chicago, Illinois in the winter of 1929: the South Side Italian gang led by Al "Scarface" Capone and the North Side Irish/German gang led by George "Bugs" Moran. The Purple Gang was also suspected to play a large role in the St. Valentine's Day massacre, assisting Al Capone.

On the morning of Thursday, February 14, St. Valentine's Day, six members of George 'Bugs' Moran's gang and a doctor who happened to be at the scene were lined up against the rear inside wall of the garage of the S-M-C Cartage Company in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago's North Side. They were then shot and killed by five members of Al Capone's gang (two of whom were dressed as police officers). When one of the dying men, Frank "Tight Lips" Gusenberg, was asked who shot him, he replied, "Nobody shot me." Capone himself had arranged to be on vacation in Florida at the time.

And an additionally interesting tidbit:

The garage, which stood at 2122 N. Clark Street, was demolished in 1967; the site is now a landscaped parking lot for a nursing home. The wall was dismantled brick by brick, sold at auction and shipped to George Patey of Vancouver, a Canadian businessman, who rebuilt it in the men's restroom of a bar with a Roaring Twenties theme called the Banjo Palace. After the bar closed, Patey began trying to sell the bricks as souvenirs.

From Wikipedia

The Mad Gasser of Mattoon

This incident was mentioned on BoingBoing today, but a story of this nature warrants more breaking, so here is some additional information.

There is no greater phantom attacker in the history of the unexplained in America than the legendary “Mad Gasser of Mattoon”, a bizarre figure who wreaked havoc in a small Illinois town in 1944. This creature turned out to be so elusive that law enforcement officials eventually declared him nonexistent, despite dozens and dozens of eyewitness reports and actual physical evidence that was left behind at the scene of some attacks.

Making matters even more interesting was a series of nearly identical attacks that took place in Botetourt County, Virginia in 1933 -1934. Social scientists declared that the attacks in Mattoon had been nothing more than mass hysteria, but how could the Illinois residents have known anything about the events in Virginia, which were barely publicized, in order to duplicate them so closely?

Both of these series of attacks involved a mysterious figure (dressed in black) who came and went without warning, left little in the way of clues behind and for some reason, sprayed a paralyzing gas into the windows of unsuspecting residents. The gas was never identified in either case and both cases involved fairly isolated areas where the attacks took place. The homes that were attacked in Virginia were in a rural county and Mattoon, at that time, was a small, Central Illinois town with no large cities in the vicinity. Also, police officials were totally stumped in both cases.

From Hauntings of Illinois

And also:

Most contemporary descriptions of the Mad Gasser are based on the testimony of Mr. and Mrs. Bert Kearney of 1408 Marshall Avenue, the victims of the first Mattoon case to be reported by the media. They described the gasser as being a tall, thin man dressed in dark clothing and wearing a tight-fitting cap. [2][3] Another report, made some weeks later, described the gassers as being a female dressed as a man. [4][1] The Gasser had also been described as carrying a flit gun, an agricultural tool for spraying pesticide, which he purportedly used to expel the gas.

From Wikipedia. Be sure to check out the chronology on the Wikipedia page as well.

And sleep well tonight, lest you be the next victim of THE MAD GASSER!