DomestiCATed

DNA recently found at archaeological sites reveals that the origins of domestic cats are in the Near East and ancient Egypt. The DNA analysis also revealed that most of these ancient cats had stripes: spotted cats were uncommon until the Middle Ages, when they became more genetically diverse. They used the DNA from bones, teeth, skin, and hair of over 200 cats found at archaeological sites in the Near East, Africa, and Europe.The DNA analysis revealed that all domesticated cats descend from the African wildcat or Felis silvestris lybica, a wildcat subspecies found in North Africa and the Near East. Today, we have all different kinds of cats and can enjoy their domesticated nature.

KU Leuven. "Ancient DNA reveals role of Near East and Egypt in cat domestication." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 June 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170619125825.htm>.

Why are octopuses suckers so strong?

Have you ever wondered how octopuses are able to cling their tentacles onto practically everything they come across? Probably not, but i'm gonna tell you how they do it anyways. Octopus use what is called their "suckers", or those white round things in that picture above. These "suckers" are responsible for the tentacles ability to cling onto things. Researchers from Livorno, Italy discovered through using a microscope that each and every sucker is rimmed with tiny concentric grooves responsible for sealing onto things in the deep sea. Scientists have since become fascinated with this discovery and have tried to replicate the octopuses sucker by developing soft-bodied robots. These robots were then used to simulate the ability of the sucker to latch onto different uneven objects at great water pressures. The results these scientists got from their experiments were magnificent as the suckers were able to latch onto every test object they placed the suckers on.

Courage, Katherine Harmon. "Octopus Suckers Have Groovy Secret for Strength." Scientific American Blog Network. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, A DIVISION OF NATURE AMERICA, INC., 1 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 June 2017.

Is octopus ink the same ol' stuff as pen ink?

As you may or may not already know, most octopus have ink sacs. These sacs are a very important variable for the octopus as they use the ink to work as a defense mechanism when under attack. The ink acts as a distraction/eye and smell irritant againt the predator, putting them in a stINKY situation. So, what does this magical life-saving ink have in it? Simply put, this ink is composed of highly concentrated melanin, the same pigment humans have which conducts our beautiful skin and hair color.  Like most Cephalopods, a subgroup of marine invertebrates in which the Octopus family belongs to, this concentrated melanin is a natural dye that octopuses manufacture in the ink sac. So does this ink have any thing in common with the ink we use in school? Nope. This is because today's pen ink is made up of synthetic dyes and compounds, all of which are practically man made. How nutty is that?!

King, Nancy. "Is Octopus Ink Similar to Fountain Pen Ink?" The Octopus News Magazine Online. Deep Intuition, LLC, 28 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 June 2017.

Strauss, Bob. "10 Fun Octopus Facts." ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo, 28 Apr. 2017. Web. 20 June 2017.

The Echiura or spoon worms, are a group of marine worms, most of which live in burrows in soft areas. This annelid-like animal group was once considered as a separate phylum because of the absence of segmentation. Although recent molecular analyses have placed it within the annelids. This grouping agrees with the presence and absence of marked sexual dimorphism involving dwarf males and the paired/non-paired configuration of the gonoducts (genital sacs). Furthermore, the data supports the sister group relationship of Echiuridae and Urechidae. These two families share the character of having anal chaetae rings around the posterior trunk as a synapomorphy.

Goto, Ryutaro, Tomoko Okamoto, Hiroshi Ishikawa, Yoichi Hamamura, and Makoto Kato. "Molecular Phylogeny of Echiuran Worms (Phylum: Annelida) Reveals Evolutionary Pattern of Feeding Mode and Sexual Dimorphism." PLOS ONE. Public Library of Science, n.d. Web. 20 June 2017.

The Cnidaria phylum consists of 9000 different species of aquatic animals. The stingers of all cnidarians are used to capture prey. The majority of cnidarian species are not dangerous to humans. They tend to be symmetrical, and anemones resemble flowers but they have mouths. The two body types of cnidarians are called polypoid and medusoid. Polyploids have tentacles and mouths that face up, while the tentacles and mouths of medusoids face down.

http://www.oceanicresearch.org/education/wonders/cnidarian.html

Recent molecular phylogenetic analysis has shown that the marine animals known as peanut worms are not a separate phylum, but are definitely part of the family of annelids. Also known as segmented worms. This is a classification that seemed questionable in the past in view of the fact that peanut worms or the Sipunculids, to give them their scientific name and have neither segments nor bristles. The latter are considered typical characteristics of annelids, which include more than 16,500 identified species and to which our common earthworm belongs.
Google Search. Google, n.d. Web. 20 June 2017.

All About Arthropods:
I read an article call, All About Arthropods, and I learned new and interesting facts about Arthropods. First the beginning of the article talks about how we live with them almost everyday, even in the very cold winter months as well as how they are everywhere and are the largest animal phylum which is about 85% of all known animals in the world are part of the class. Also, there are far more species of arthropods than there are species in all the other phylum's combined. The middle part of the article states that they are spiders, insects, centipedes, mites, ticks, lobsters, crabs, shrimp, crayfish, krill, barnacles, scorpions and many, many others. The third part of the article says, that their bodies are body made up of more than one part. For example, spiders have two segments and flies have three segments. 

Author: Leanne Guenther
Year:1998-2017
Title: Worksheet For Kids/ All About Anthropods
Published: June 20, 2017
Link: http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/arthropod1.htm

Sponges-Zimmerman

What are Sea Sponges? Their is a common misconception that Sea sponges are plants. In fact Sea Sponges are one of the worlds most simplistic multi celled organisms, a sponges scientific name is porifera. Porifera literally translates to "pore-bearing."  Sponges come in all different shapes, colors, sizes and textures. In fact there are over 5,000 sponges known to exist but only 12 are used for commercial use. Sponges where confused with coral and other plant life until the 1700's, when a Greek philosopher renamed sponges to "Zoofitan." This translates to half animal half plant. But in fact Sponges are all animal, They live without a brain, digestive, circulatory, or central nervous systems. A sponge still eats food even without a digestive system. The sponge will plant itself on a stationary object and let the ocean current move small organisms through the sponge. The sponge then filters out the water and eats the organisms. A sea Sponge will reproduce asexually using a process called budding. A single sponge will start having abnormal growths off the side of it and its is forming a new sponge. That is a sea sponge, a very simple multi cellular pore bearing animal.

Inc., The Sea Sponge Company™. "What Are Sea Sponges?" The Sea Sponge Company™ Inc. The Sea Sponge Company™ Inc., n.d. Web. 20 June 2017.

Odonate

                                                                       Odonata 

• Large, with long bodies.
• Large eyes with up to 30,000 ommatidia (facets).
• Minute antennae.
• Specialised mouthparts with strong teeth.
• Legs end in a powerful pair of claws.
• Two pairs of similar wings finely veined.
• 4,900 species worldwide, 130 European, 45 British Isles.
• Fossil record goes back over 300 million years.

Adults are strong fliers and eat other insects, especially mosquitos black flies and other small flies, that they catch. They have a row of stiff bristles on either side of their legs, so the three pairs form a basket to scoop flying prey. BUT because of the positioning of the front legs Odonata cannot walk or crawl. Males are highly territorial, and will chase off other males.

Dragonfly flight speed has been recorded as 7.0 metres per second with a wingbeat of 38 per second.

Females and males of the same species are often different colours, and younger adults are usually a paler colour than older ones.

They have about 10 or 11 abdominal segments. All males have a pair of claspers on segment 10, and their reproductive organs on segment 2 or 3. In females the ovipositor is in segment 8 or 9. When adults die the colours fade very quickly, and in many species the powdery blue colouration easily rubs off.

Smith, L. (n.d.). Odonata (dragonflies 1, 2, and damselflies). Retrieved June 20, 2017, from http://www.bumblebee.org/invertebrates/Odonata.htm

Cilli Centipedes

Stone Centipedes, lithobiomorpha or even stone dweller, are centipedes from the uniramia family. They are traditionally 1 to 2 inches longs and brown in their color. The most common have 18 body segments with fifteen pairs of legs. Stone Centipedes like to be under bark, on stones, in soil or under decaying material in gardens. There are about 500 species of stone centipedes and are primarily indigenous to Europe. They consume insects and other small invertebrates such as earthworms and have a lifespan of about 3 years. Stone centipedes are one of the fastest moving Centipedes and have venomous claws that are used to catch their prey. Stone centipedes are harmless to people and are rarely found indoors. Just ignore them when you find them in your garden or other places around the outside of your home. Should you find any in your home, physical removal is the only necessary control. Insecticides are not necessary. Centipedes are related to insects but are classified as their own group. There are many similarities between centipedes and that of millipedes,  which are closely related, but they are very easy to distinguish between. First, centipedes have one pair of conspicuous legs per body segment while millipedes have two pairs of very short legs per body segment. Centipedes also move more quickly while millipedes are slower. Centipedes have flattened bodies with a conspicuous pair of antennae while millipedes possess cylindrical bodies and very short antennae.

Viewing Families in the Order "Lithobiomorpha" (Stone Centipedes). (n.d.). Retrieved June 20, 2017, from http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/browse/order.php?bid=311#b

Stone centipedes. (n.d.). Retrieved June 20, 2017, from https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/stone-centipedes/