Other scientists disagree with the findings that BST is not harmful to cows. A panel of animal health experts found that cows injected with BST have a higher rate of infertility, increased lameness, increased mastitis, and a shorter life expectancy. Canada refused marketing approval for BST in January 1999 because of concerns about animal welfare. EU scientists, citing health concerns, came to the same conclusion and voted to continue the moratorium on BST. For opponents of BST, more mastitis means more antibiotics administered to cows, which means more drug residues in milk. But the other side counters that when cows are medicated due to an infection or other illness and treated with drugs, FDA requires that farmers wait a specified amount of time (from72 to 96 hours) to give the drug time to clear the animal's system before products from it are obtained.

It has been estimated that a total of 10 million to 20 million blue sharks are being caught and killed every year as a result of fishing. Most of these are because of the accidental catches when the fishers try to catch game fish. Commercial fishermen often mistake blue sharks for tuna and sword fish and they catch them.

Though a blue shark's flesh is very edible, they are not widely hunted for that reason. The flesh is used fresh, smoked, dried and salted and the flesh is also used as fish meal. The skin of blue shark is widely used for leather, in shark-fin soup and as liver oil.

Blue sharks don't attack humans and whatever cases of blue shark attacks recorded are pure accidents. Blue sharks are considered dangerous for only 20 or so species in which humans are not included. Till now, there have been just four attacks on humans by blue sharks which were considered fatal. Blue sharks attack humans only in deep waters and they don't attack on shores or at water level as they are not known to come out of deep water.

Blue Sharks in Captivity

Like most other types of sharks, blue sharks too fail to do well in captivity. Many attempts in doing so resulted in the deaths of the blue sharks. After this many people came up with ideas to put the blue sharks in circular tanks having long gliding paths , and in pools having 10 feet depth at center which ascends to zero depth. But these arrangements too resulted in moderate success. At the best, some specimens managed to live for 30 days while the others died before that specified time itself. They were observed to have problem with walls and other obstacles. The current record for the most number of days a blue shark has ever survived in captivity is 7 months at The New Jersey Aquarium. After 7 months, the shark died of bacterial infection.

Fungi gets their nutrients and energy from absorbing materials from their environment. There are 72,000 species name and they have been estimated to be 1,500,000 of them.

Types of Organisms

• Funguses
• Moulds
• Mushrooms
• Yeasts
• Mildews
• Smuts

Animals

Animals digest the food they eat and turn them to energy the process is called respiration . They are also eukaryote which means their body contains a nucleus in their cells. There are 1,326,239 species name and they have been estimated to be 9,812,298 of them.

Types of Organisms

• Sponges
• Worms
• Insects
• Fish
• Amphibians
• Reptiles
• Birds
• Mammals

Plants

Plants makes their food by photosynthesis and also produce energy by respiration. They are also eukaryote which means their body contains a nucleus in their cells. There are 270,000 species name and they have been estimated to be 320,000 of them.

Types of Organisms

• Mosses
• Ferns
• Woody Flowering Plants
• Non-woody Flowering Plants

Monera

Monera is a form of chains or mats. They are prokaryote which mean they don't have a nucleus. Monera absorbs materials in their environment just like a fungi. There are 4,000 species name but they have been estimated to be 1,000,000 of them.

Types of Organisms

• Bacteria
• Blue-green algae
• Spirochetes

Protista

Protista is a large single eukaryote which means it has a nucleus. They are in forms of chain's and colonies. There are 80,000 species named and they have been estimated to be 600,000 of them.

Types of Organisms

• Protozoan
• Algae

A Deformed Duckling

(First photo credit: BBS.ZOL)

(Second photo credit: Barry Batchelor)

One deformed duckling called “Stumpy” was found at Warrawee Duck Farm in Copythorne, Hamphire (a country on the south coast of England), England. This duckling was born in 2007 with four legs which is unusual to a typical duck that has two legs. While examining this duckling, the scientist found that it has two unusual legs grown out behind its normal pair of legs. According to its owner, the duck has no problem with its daily activities despite these deformed legs which was caused by a rare mutation. These two legs seemed to support its movement.

A Deformed Reptile Fossil

(Photo credit: 17Dtq.com)

Scientists have long found the double-headed fossil. From the laboratory sample, this aquatic reptile was identified died at its very young age before forming into a fossil. This extinct adult reptile was diagnosed to grow as long as one meter. Its relatively long neck marked its unusual feature among its species.

Two Deformed Calves

(Photo credit: Odyguild)

Before New Year's Eve, one unusual and unexplainable phenomenon occurred in a dairy farm in Virginia, an American state on the Atlantic Coast of the southern United States. A mother cow gave birth to a calf with two faces on December 27, 2006. This calf was believed to be a product of artificial insemination. There was not much of a difference from this calf and other ordinary ones when viewing it from its neck until to its tail. Nevertheless, the rare characteristic for such “double-sided” calf was that it has a relatively unusual large head. It breathed out of two noses, and has two tongues, which moved independently.

(Photo credit: Kearney Hub/ Katherine Thomas)

This six-legged calf was born on April 29, 2007 at the farm of Brian Slocum of Litchfield. The calf was diagnosed to have both male and female reproductive organs.

A Deformed Cow

(Photo credit: Chor Sokunthea/ REUTERS)

This unusual six-legged Cambodian cow was found resting at the farm near to the Cambodia city, Phnom Penh on October 7, 2003. The monks from the local pagoda who scared of getting bad fortune that would bring by the cow, later named it as “Cham Leck.” (Literally means “strange”)

A Deformed Octopus

(Photo credit: Blackpool Sealife Centre)

This six-legged octopus or “hexapus” was found by the British marine experts. They claimed that this was the first unusual sea creature discovered among the octopus families. It was observed to have two limbs lesser than its normal species. His keepers at the Blackpool Sea Life Centre which is situated in the northwest of England believed that its deformity was due to the birth defect instead of the casual accident.

A Deformed Giraffe

(Photo credit: Michael Moriatis/ News-Press)

This was Gemina, a giraffe which was found to have a dominant crooked neck joining to its body at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Unfortunately, it died on January 9, 2008.

A Deformed Lamb

(Photo credit: Susan Sandys, Ashburton Guardian)

This seven-legged lamb was photographed when it was found on July 31, 2007, at the farm at Methven near to Christ Church which is situated in the South Island of New Zealand. The veterinarian, Steve Williams believed that this deformity was caused by a misprint in embryo formation. Due to this scientific reason, the lamb was being born polydactyl (or with many legs). He further remarked that this is a common condition that may have occurred once in every several million sheep.

Three Deformed Tortoises

(Photo credit: China Daily/ REUTERS)

This tortoise was seen on June 24, 2007, in Huaibei which is located in the eastern part of Anhui Province of China. The local media reported that its gourd shaped resembling a large fruit with a hard skin and soft juicy flesh inside was the result of a gene mutation. That means the gene mutation has contributed to its aberration, a condition of a temporary change from what is normal or acceptable among its species.

(Photo credit: Fabrice Coffrini/ Getty image)

During the birthday celebration of this two-headed Greek tortoise on September 5, 2007, the official of the Natural History Museum in Geneva presented it to the press and public. The tortoise was named after the two-headed Roman god as Janus when it was born on September 3, 1997. The museum then invited those children who were born in 1997 to participate in the celebration of Janus's birthday.

(Photo credit: Matt Rourke)

Jay Jacoby, the store manager at Big Al's Aquarium Supercentre in East Norriton, Pennsylvania put this two-headed red slider tortoise was on display on September 26, 2007 .

Two Deformed Snakes

(Photo credit: Chihoo.com)

As seen in the photo, this albino snake was born with two heads. The strange feature for such snake is that its two separate mouths were connected to the same stomach. Usually, the snake, which was born with this deformed characteristic, would not live longer. As a result, its life may be as short as two months. Nevertheless, the snake that you see in the picture had unexpectedly survived for a long life span of 8 years.

(Photo credit: qiguan)

This is another photo of a snake which shows that it was born in a deformed shape. The deformities in its head, however, do not interfere with its movement.

Two Deformed Kittens

(Photo credit: Cathy Kapulka/ Citrus Country Chronicle)

This two-faced kitten was born in Inverness, Fla. It has one esophagus, two noses and four eyes. This photo was pictured while its owner, Cobra Macini was feeing his beloved kitten.

(Photo credit: Traci Allen)

One unusual event happened in Oregon City in the United States. A kitten was born with only one large eye grown on the position of its nose on December 28, 2005. This type of deformity is known as Holoprosencephaly. Besides one eye, the kitten was also found to have no nose at all. This deformed kitten finally died two days after it was born.

A Deformed Crocodile

(Photo credit: Sakchai Lalit)

These baby crocodiles were born in June 2001, at the Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm which is located on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand. Unfortunately, they were born with their bodies joined together at their bottom part. They were reptiles identified for having two tails and eight legs.

A Deformed Chicken

(Photo credit: baidu.com)

A chicken with four legs was discovered on September 21, 2006, in one of the chicken farms in the United States. This chicken was different from other normal chickens as it has four very long legs attached beneath its body.

Deformed Pigs

(Photo credit: shangdu.com)

The research team from the Taiwan University succeeded in producing three green fluorescent pigs. According to the professor of the University, Prof. Dr. Wu, these three green fluorescent pigs were the outcomes of this experiment, in which the green fluorescent genes from the jellyfish were implanted into three transgenic pig embryos. It produced three pigs that have their entire bodies emitting green fluorescent light.

A Deformed Turtle

(Photo credit: chongwubaobao)

The local people in Costa Rica happened to come across the rarely seen double-headed turtle lying on the shore. This turtle did not have a typical appearance of a turtle, as it had two brains grown out on its front. The turtle in the photo was hatched on the beach on November 20, 2005 in this deformed manner when it was found.

Two Deformed Frogs

(First photo credit: Discovery Channel)

(Second photo credit: Peiter Johnson, University of Colorado)

In 1995, many seriously deformed leopard frogs were discovered around the lakes and rivers in the wetlands of the United States. According to reliable sources, several species with these deformities have been found across Minnesota, and into neighboring South Dakota, Quebec and Wisconsin over years. Among these deformed frogs, some were found with three legs, some were found to be handicapped of legs, and some even have four to five legs. When this news spread, it quickly drew the attention of environmental experts. New research identifies that such deformities have been caused partly due to runoff from farming and ranching. This conclusion was supported by the study of a University of Colorado, as they agreed that the growing number of deformed frogs were primarily caused by the nutrient-rich runoff from farming and ranching as indicated by the new research.

Size: Adult Pandas are around one and a half metres long, and about 75 cms high. They weigh from 90 to 115kg, and females are slightly smaller than males, on average. The tail is around 10-15 cms long (4-6 inches). It is black and white in colour, not striped but distinctive markings.

Diet: The diet of a Panda is consisted of around 99% bamboo plants. They are actually classed a carnivore (meat eater) although in reality, they hardly ever eat meat. They are like Koalas in the fact they eat a large amount of plant material, which doesn't give them much energy.

Safety: Pandas are a endangered species, and although the number of wild Pandas is rising, it may not be enough for it to be unendangered. The destruction of their habitat makes it harder for them to grow in the wild, along with the relatively slow birth rate.

Life Span: Pandas have been known to live for up to thirty years in captivity, and around twenty five in the wild.

Appearance: Although they may appear to be cute, furry animals, they are not always so, which makes them dangerous to people who assume they are cute furry animals.

Reproduction: When they are taken into captivity, some male Pandas lose their interest in mating, causing troubles in trying to increase their numbers. Pandas reach sexual maturity between the ages of 4 and 8 years. The mating season occurs between March and May. The baby Pandas are born 3 to 5 months are mating occurs. There is often one baby, and sometimes two. As the baby Pandas need their mothers full love and attention, she can only choose one to raise, and sadly abandons the other one(s) which die soon after. The father has no part in this.

The mating process always involves the struggle of one sex (often the male) to win the mating with the female. The failure of this process is normally a few or no offspring to sustain the generation of their own species. In contrary, a successful male to attract the female of his species may assist in passing his genes on to the next generation. However, in the world of insects, the male may attract a completely different kind of female as his partner. The female insect is particularly more interested to lay her eggs rather than to look for sex.

In regards to mating, Lost in Arizona, a writer at Triond has a brilliantly written article entitled 10 Bizarre Mating Technique to supplement the incomplete part of this article.

The Indian Bullfrog: Ready and Call for a Sexual Service!

(Image source: REUTERS 2006-06-24)

The Indian bullfrog (Hoplobatrachus tigerinus) is the largest frog in Pakistan which is usually found hibernating by burrowing in soil during winter as well as during drought.

(Image source: REUTERS 2006-06-24)

During mating, the male (lemon yellow in color) will croak repeatedly to attract the attention of the female (dull and light-brown color). The croak of the male has a powerful nasal “Cronk, cronk, cronk”, but sometimes it sounds like “oong wang, oong wang, oong wang”. When the mating season begins, the males will repeat their aggressive croaks several times by sitting close to each other in the shallow water or pond, splashing into the water, jumping over each other to attract the females. At the same time, the female will lurk around by the calls of the males, initiate copulation by making contact with a carefully selected male. The males hang around the periphery, hoping to get lucky.

(Image source: REUTERS 2006-06-24)

If one of the males manage to grab the female frog they will jump in pair and somehow move together to a quiet place to avoid the fighting, pushing and tugging from other male frogs. There, the female will lay its eggs (2.5 to 2.8mm in diameter) in large volume with each of the egg enclosed with a layer of double coat of jelly.

Butterfly: Endurance beyond Love!

(Image source: Luis Romero, El Salvador [AP 2006-06-13])

The butterflies spend much time to search for mates. The adult males will usually search for the females of its own species which have the recognizable pattern and color in their wings. When the male spots his mate, he will fly closer; usually he is behind or above the female. Approaching closer and closer, the male will release the chemical substance called pheromones, while fluttering his wings more frequent that he usually does.

(Image source: Kang-Chae Lee, Korean Monthly Science Magazine “Science Dong-A”[Feb. 1996])

(Image source: Martin Kramer, Amsterdam)

To attract the female, the male make a special “courtship dance” which may consist of some peculiar dancing postures. If the female gets excited with his dancing, she may join him. There, they join their bodies together end to end at their abdomens. At this stage, the male passes the sperm to the female's egg-laying tube which will soon be fertilized by the sperm. The male is always unfortunate as he often has to face the death shortly after mating.

After mating ends, the female must go to select the correct plant species to lay her eggs. Once she is sure she has encountered her favorite plant, she will start laying eggs either as a single egg or in clusters which will be fertilized with the sperm that has been stored in her body while mating with the male. The produced eggs are enclosed with a sticky substance to enable the eggs to be attached firmly either on a stem or on the underside of a leaf.

Dolphin: You Guy All Crazy at Sex!

(Image source: Carmelo Aquilina)

(Image source: SexyVixen)

Dolphins are by far animals that have strong sexual desires as they mate many times in a day. Nevertheless, each mating section ends very fast with on longer than 12 seconds. As the male dolphins have ravenous sexual appetites, they will always attempt to hump inanimate objects and even other animals like sea turtles. The male dolphin will often force the female to have sex. The other hushed-up fact is that the male has a retractable penis, the flaccid penis located within his body and both penises appear while on demand. Another cool fact to add in is that his penis is prehensile which can swivel to explore an object around him just like a hand.

Sea Hare: There's a company to get the job done!

(Image source: Mating chain, Ann DuPont)

Like many snails, sea slugs (looks like a flat worm in the pictures) and earthworms, sea hares are hermaphrodites as they have both male and female reproductive organs. Nevertheless, they are unable to fertilize their own eggs and hereby they require a mate for this purpose. While mating, sea hares can either be acted as a female, or male. As its penis is on the right side of the head while the vagina is located in the mantle cavity, beneath the shell, deep down between the parapodia, and despite of these physical adaptations, it is therefore impossible for the sea hare to function as both female and male at the same time.

(Image source: Sea Hare eggs, Robert Todd)

While mating, three or more sea hares pile up to form a mating chain (they also mate in pairs with one acts as a male, the other as a female, but they usually occur in the crowded numbers during the mating season), with the one at the front acts as a female while the one at the back as a male. The animal(s) in between could be as both females and males. In the intercourse process, a male sea hare would attach his penis to the vagina of the middle sea hare, and a female would attach with the middle sea hare's penis. That means the middle one is always the go-between to pass the sperm through to the other. This giant mating chain enables the sea hare to breed with two other sea hares internally at a time to fertilize a string of spaghetti looks like eggs into the form of long ribbons or in masses as large as a grapefruit's diameter. At a time, a sea hare can lay up to as many as 86 million eggs which will soon hatch in 10 to 12 days.

Barnacles: Wow, Crazy Long Penis for Mating!

(Image source: Underseadive)

(Image source: Barnacle's inflatable penis, Sue Scott, MarLIN)

Barnacles are crustaceans attacked firmly to the rocks. As they are primarily stationary animal, how do they mate? The solution to this obstacle is solved by their relatively long penises adapted for their own species of their sizes. These inflatable penises can reach up to 50 times as long as their bodies; there should not be problems for them to have sex with their neighbors as well as to fertilize distant neighbors. Imagine that their penises could reach to another seven shells away! Wow, such the longest penis in the animal kingdom! Incredible!

 

"The benefit of a longer penis is obvious for the barnacles - it helps them reach more barnacles - but the tradeoff is that it could wave around wildly on shores exposed to waves," explained researcher Christopher Neufeld, an evolutionary marine biologist at University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Praying Mantis: Get Your Head Off for Sex!

(Image source: Praying Mantis Wise to Sexual Cannibalism Risk [LiveScience 2006-07-26])

The Praying Mantis has long been known for the cannibalistic response while copulating. During mating, the male mantis will jump on the back of the female. If he miscounted the jump, he is more likely to become a meal for her. However, if his jump was successful, they will mate sexually. Despite of this reason, he usually approaches her more cautious. He will thus choose to approach her from behind and then hang onto her back with his front legs. When mating begins, he will follow an elaborate multi-step dance-like ritual that can last even for hours.

(Image source: Pansphoto.com)

While he is mating with her, she sometimes has a habit of biting his head off. This is believed to be a common practice as a necessary part to complete the reproductive process. It is said to be a signal for the male to release his sperm which provides the female with sufficient protein to enable her to lay more eggs. After mating, the female will lay 12 to 400 eggs in a walnut size small case which will then turn hard into a protective and warm home for the newborn babies. The nymphs hatch much alike of their parents.

Redback spider: Come on, Guy, Jump over Me for a Favor!

(Image source by William Thiam, redback spider)

Like the praying mantis, Redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti) has been noted for its sexual cannibalism. To attract the attention of the female, the male has to make overturns to her to confirm whether she is ready to mate with him.

(Image source: The Invisible Sex Dance of Psychedelic Spiders [LiveScience 2007-01-25])

Note: This is other species of spiders, showing you what happens during their mating.

While mating, the male will offer his abdomen and by standing on his head and somersaulting to place his abdomen over the female's mouthparts. Next, she begins to squirt digestive juices onto his abdomen while inserting the first palp. If he is still strong, he will be able to withdraw to insert the second pulp. In most cases, she will eat him while or after the mating. If he is lucky enough not being eaten by her, he will die soon after mating. The act of sacrificing himself is deemed necessary to enable her to copulate for a longer period to assist in fertilising more eggs. Once she has mated with him, she may lay eggs from 40 to 300 in each sac (1cm in diameter and the sac is suspended within the web) for every 25 to 30 days. She will work very hard to spin up to 8 round balls of web for her eggs with some of these contain as many as 300 eggs. Sometimes, during this period, she can lay up to 5,000 eggs. These eggs will hatch within 13 to 15 days after being laid.

Penguin: Be Patient, Buddy!

(Image source: Martha de Jong-Lantink)

Penguins have a tough job to do while mating due to their bottle shaped bodies and thus their mating process lasts no longer than 3 minutes. And they only get to do the mating once in a year. The penguins have a very strange marriage life as they spend longer time staying apart. They only meet once or twice a year after walking on foot or sliding their bellies to cover a large distance that they have travelled. They look for mates by making a bugling sound.

(Image source: Martha de Jong-Lantink)

During the mating season, the males stay onshore to call for their mates by lowering their heads down to their chests. Once the male manage to attract the female, they would stand facing breast to breast while bowing to each other. Then, they sing loudly with outstretched and trembling flippers. While mating, the female must keep still while the male gets on top. Any single moves of the female will cause the male to fall off. Penguins are mostly monogamous, meaning that they are with one mate at a time. Nevertheless, the males can have up to 2 mates. Similarly, the females can have up to 3 mates. Interestingly, the female has the “veto power” to decide the mate selection. When the male did not return to the shores as expected, the female will select another male as her partner.

Flatworms: War before Sex, please!

(Image source: The Shape of Life, PBS)

The flatworms (Pseudobiceros hancockanus) are hermaphrodites, meaning that they have both male and female sexual organs. Each of them has both ovaries with eggs and testes with sperm. Some of them may even have two penises and probably one or more genital pores to receive a two-tailed sperm delivering during copulation. The male organ appears to be two dagger-like penises which they use for hunting as well as mating. In the case of reproduction, the sperm is not delivered into a genital opening, instead the flatworm use its penis to inject sperm straight into its mate by piercing into its skin. Flatworms have a bizarre mating ritual as for them; sex is not love but more like a war and thus they appear to engage themselves in some odd reproductive behavior, known as penis fencing.

During mating, two flatworms fight to stab each other, whilst avoiding being stabbed itself. The attempt to stab each other with its penis (or called penis fencing) can last for one hour or more. The winner becomes the de facto male, while the poor bastard gets jammed who will get stabbed to absorb the sperm via its skin and has to bear the burden of motherhood.

Argonaut: A detachable Penis Gets an Easy Excess to Sex!

(Image source: Julian Finn, Macalogist)

Argonaut (Paper nautilus) is a weird soft-bodied (mollusk) marine animal which belongs to a species of octopus. Its male is a dwarf which is about 10% of the female's length of its species.

(Image source: Hectocotylus, Julian Finn, Macalogist)

The male has been adapted with a third tentacle or the hectocotylus forming inside a sac to aid in reproduction. The males mate once in their lifetime. When this guy gets exciting with the girl he meets, he will detach its penis to swim by itself to the female. At mating, the male use his modified third arm or hectocotylus which carries one large spermatophore to deposit the sperm in the female's mantle cavity. This is followed by inserting his arm into the female's pallial cavity to fertilize the eggs. Female will soon breed into thousands of small eggs that are deposited in an external shell-like egg case.

Fruit Fly: Female, Interested with the Longest Sperm?

(Image source: Giant sperm species, Abc.net)

The Fruit flies (Drosophila bifurca) are regarded as the animals on earth that have the world's longest sperm ever measured. When their coiled sperms are straightened out, they measure approximately 2 inches or nearly 20 times the total body length of the male. This length of sperm is even longer than a human's sperm for over 1,000 times. This crazy long sperm has been evolved by the just-as-long female reproductive tract which selects for different kinds of sperm for its reproduction purpose.

Whiptail Lizard: Homosexuality? Never mind, let's Clone Together!

(Image source: Two whiptail lizards in pseudocopulation, Tino Mauricio, Daily Texan)

Whiptail lizards (Cnemidophorus sp.) are native to Arizona but these lizards are apparently odd that they are nearly all-female or all-female populations. Now, you will ask how the females could have sex without males. Aren't they amazing to learn that they reproduce by cloning themselves? That means they reproduce by parthenogenesis. Guess what? They will engage in pseudo sex whereby one lizard lies on top of another to stimulate egg production in both females. They will then switch off such role for the next mating season. When they lay eggs, the lizard that was on top has smaller eggs while the one on bottom has larger eggs. That means their offspring are a fully all-female genetic clones of the mother lizard.

Cricket: Hey, Guy, Sing to win your lover's Heart!

(Image source: Wikipedia)

Crickets are one of the leaping insects that have a length vary from around 3 to 50mm (0.1 to 2inches) found primarily in the temperate climates. The male crickets attract their mates by emitting a calling sound in a predictable rhythm at dusk, persisting until dawn. This calling sound is fairy loud to attract the attention of the females while at the same time repelling other males from walking closer.

Prior to the calling, the males will create a small burrow (acts like an amplifier) to assist in extending their broadcast distance. In a sense that the females hear sounds from a much greater distance than the maximum distance at which their antennae are effective. Therefore, the males will make an aggressive sound to increase the chances of successful mate location for both sexes. The females will evaluate each song and move towards to those they prefer. When the female is attracted to the calling song, the male must prepare to court and mate with a female by the time he begins his singing. When the male feels that the female is closer to him, he will attract her with a softer courting song. After mating, the female will search for an ideal place particularly in warm and damp soil to lay eggs. The females are equipped with a long need-like egg-laying organ (ovipositor) to reproduce sexually from one to three generations each year. They often lay eggs in the ground or in soft-stemmed plants during the fall or late summer.

In every part of the surrounding, in which humans dwell in, no matter in water, land, air, or elsewhere, there reign tiny yet complex lives. The in depths study of these living organisms bring human a face to face consequence with an astounding miracle of the creation of God. The astounding part of the living organisms have led us some understanding of the awe-inspiring structure of every life from as small as 0.0000001 to over 0.1. These photomicrographs unveiled the miracle and astounding lives as illustrated below.

This microscope image was captured by Spike Walker. It shows a trachea of the silkworm which carries oxygen from the openings within the surface of its body or spiracles. The tracheal tubes are divided into a branch of Tracheoles in order to dispatch oxygen efficiently to the required tissues of this insect.

(Source: Klaus Bolte, Natural Resources Canada Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.)

This photo shows a parasitoid wasp (Amisega floridensis) (90x). The parasitoid wasp is considered as beneficial to plants as it helps to control the populations of agricultural pests.

(Source: Annie Cavanagh and Dave McCarthy, School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK.)

This photo shows a carpet of red blood cells (also called erythrocytes) which clearly demonstrated their slightly indented, flattened and biconcave disc shape, in which the shape enlarges the surface area for the efficiency of the absorption and release of oxygen and carbon dioxide. This in turns enables the cells to move flexibly via the tinniest blood capillaries. These iron-rich protein hemoglobin cells are mainly manufactured in the bone marrow (soft tissue inside the bones), particularly in the bones that make up the spine, pelvis, skull, sternum (breastbone) and ribs of the vertebrates. Their lifespan is only 4 months and each day our body produces new blood red cells to replace those that are dead or lost from our body.

(Source: Dr. Jeffery Bowen, Bridgewater State College Bridgewater, Massachusetts, USA.)

This photo shows a dragonfly (Kaleidofly of a Halloween Pennant) (1x). It looks like a delicate masterpiece of the mosaic.

(Source: Steven Valley, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Plant Division Salem, Oregon, USA.)

This photo shows the eggs of a spider (Mimetidae sp.) with a sheath of silk (30x). After laying the eggs, the spider will spun silk through spinnerets located on its posterior part of the abdomen to protect its eggs. At this stage, as you could see from the photo, its silk looks like a fried egg.

(Source: Christian Gautier, BIOS/PHONE Photo Agency Avignon, France.)

This photo shows the cross-section of the cedar leaves (Cedrus atlantica)(200x).

This image was captured by Shao Jin Ong. This photo shows the bacterial of meningitis. It is an infection of the fluid of a person's spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain. The yellow dots you see in this photo are Neisseria meningitides bacteria which dwell in the human airway cells. They can also find living around the nose and throat of us without causing disease or symptom. This viral and bacterial infection is scary that it can lead to a severe case of brain damage, learning disability, or hearing loss. Furthermore, if these meningitis-causing bacteria break through and go into the blood stream, they can cause potentially septicaemia (a life-threatening infection caused by bacteria as well as a serious infection that usually spreads from some other part of the body to the blood, where the bacteria multiply) and fatal meningitis.

(Source: Dr. Stephen Lowry, University of Ulster Coleraine, Northern Ireland, UK.)

This photo shows a soft-bodied animal or a mollusk (Coiled radula of Patella vulgaris) (20x). This animal is mainly found in marine environments, with many of its species discovering in the shallow sub-tidal and on the continental shelf. They are generally characterized by a shell-secreting organ, the mantle, and a radula, a food-rasping organ located in the forward area of their mouth.

(Source: Dr. Robert Markus, Institute of Genetics Biological Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Szeged, Hungary.)

This photo shows the opening stamen of purple jasmine flower (mirabilis jalapa) (125x).

(source: Charles Krebs, Charles Krebs Photography Issaquah, Washington, USA.)

This photo shows the marine diatoms attached to red seaweed plants (polysiphonia) (100x).

(Source: James Sharpe, Medical Research Council's Human Genetics Unit, Edinburgh.)

This photo shows the mouse embryo which has been stained to show parts of its heart in red, the floor of the spinal cord and other tissue in blue, parts of the nervous system in green, while the unstained tissues appear in grey color. With the advance technology of Optical Projection Tomography (OPT), scientists could study the internal structure of stained whole embryos and tinier pieces of tissue without even need for their cutting sections as this new technique can reveal different elements of the staining pattern in details.

(Source: Lorna McInroy, Durham's Cancer Research UK laboratories, UK.)

This photo shows a development of the colon cancer cells growing in a culture dish. As you could see in this photo, the green cells refer to a type of pectin protein, which links the cell's internal skeleton to other proteins on its surface by attaching to each other. Different subtypes of this protein can affect the cells to migrate to the new locations of the body (metastasise), causing the consequence of the colon cancer becomes more complex.

(Source: Rodrigo Mexas Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.)

This photo shows a parasite worm (Trematode sp.) (400x). The species of its own can be found in our food, water, pets, and gardens, to list a few. Some of them can release as many as 200,000 eggs per day. Once in the human's body, they can dwell almost everywhere and cause the damage to the organs, or may have blocked the nutrients from being reaching their hosts.

(Source: Shamuel Siberman Ramat Gan, Israel.)

This photo shows the flower bud of the opium poppy (papaver subpiriforme-corn poppies) (20x). The opium poppy is also known as the “sleeping-bringing poppy” due to its narcotic property. This is a type of plant from which opium and many refined opiates such as codeine, Pappaverine, Noscapine, Morphine and Thebaine are extracted.

(source: Charles Krebs, Charles Krebs Photography Issaquah, Washington, USA.)

This photo shows a water scavenger beetle or Hydrophilidae sp. (100x). It is a destructive pest that sometimes can grow up to 3 inches long with its average size of 1.3 inches. It is usually dark in color and is found in marshy area, weedy pond, stream, and grassy environment feeding on small fish, water insects and tadpoles. Some of its species could respond to sound over the low-frequency range, with the greatest sensitivity in the region of 200 to 640 hertz.

(Source: Stephen Fuller, wellcome Trust centre for Human Genetics, Oxford, UK.)

This photo clearly portrays the internal structure of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) particle using a technique of cryo-electron tomography. This is a single type of viral protein revealed by its conical red capsid. The blue color shows the membrane that encapsulates the virus, while the yellow color shows the area between the core and the membrane of the virus (lateral body) which also includes proteases and remnants of material from the host cell. Once in the body, HIV will weaken the body's immune system by destroying a group of white blood cells called CD4 (T-cell) lymphocytes, making the body more vulnerable to many types of infections.

(Source: Anne Weston, an electron microscopist for Cancer Research of UK.)

This photo shows a color-enhanced development of a single breast cancer cell. It is considered as a malignant tumor that starts from cells of the breast and can occur in male but it is more common among the female. These cancerous cells can later invade the surrounding tissues or spread (metastasize) to other parts of the body.

(Source: Annie Cavanagh and Dave McCarthy, School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK.)

This photo shows a clump of breast cancer cells. The blue cells show the rapid growth of the cancerous cells, while the yellow one are cells that are nearly closed to death or are being programmed cell death (apoptosis) as they are being colonized and modified by the actively growing cancerous cells shown in blue color.

(Source: Gloria Kwon, Memorial Sloan - Kettering Institute, New York, USA)

This photo shows the embryo of double-transgenic mouse which has grown to 18.5 days.

(Source: Anne Weston, an electron microscopist for Cancer Research of UK.)

This photo shows a ruptured red blood vessel, with some of the red blood cells leaking out of it due to a mutation in the Ephrin-B2 gene that prevent the smooth muscle cells from being arranged properly in the wall of the red blood vessel. This stage shows the developing of cancers causing the blood vessels become extremely fragile to carry out their tasks in the body. The Color was used to enhance the visualized property of the image.

(Source: Wim van Egmond, Micropolitan Museum, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.)

This photo shows a cylindrical rotifer (Testudinella patina) with an anterior ciliated disk and posterior tail (400x). It is a microscopic at approximately 3mm but many-celled freshwater aquatic invertebrates that have their anterior end modified into a retractile disk bearing of strong cilia giving their appearance of rapidly revolving wheels.

(Source: Michael Hendricks, Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory, National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge, Singapore.)

This photo shows the brain part (midbrain and diencephalon) of the zebrafish or zebra danio (Danio rerio, a tropical freshwater fish) in its embryonic development (20x).

(Source: Stephanie Schuller, Royal Free Hospital, London.)

This photo shows a minute finger-like piece of tissue called villi in the small intestine. The villi along with microvilli help to enlarge the surface area available for more efficient absorption of nutrients and secretion of enzymes. Beneath the villi there are intestinal glands or called crypts of Lieberkühn, and the cells within these glands make hormones, including serotonin, a substance that helps to control the activities within the intestine.

(source: Michael Klymkowsky, MCD Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado, USA.)

This photo shows the embryos of Xenopus (20x). Xenopus is a native of African carnivorous frog which is commonly used for developmental biology study.

(Source: Annette Bergter, Zoology Division University of Osnabruck Osnabruck, Germany.)

This photo shows an embryo of a marine segmented animal (Ophryotrocha diadema) (25x). You could clearly see its nervous system and the cilia via its transparent body. The cilia aid this worm to move around the water.

(Source: Annie Cavanagh and Dave McCarthy, School of Pharmacy, University of London, UK.)

This photo shows a clump of prostate cancer cells. The blue-green cells show the rapid growth of the cancerous cells, while the pink one are cells that are nearly closed to death or are being programmed cell death (apoptosis) as they are being colonized and modified by the actively growing cancerous cells shown in blue-green color.

(Source: Dr. Matthew Hooge, Portland, Oregon, USA.)

This photo shows a soft-bodied larva or planktonic mollusk (Clione sp.) (40x). It is a shell-less agile aquatic animal that has a relatively transparent and gelatinous posterior. It only has shells at its embryonic stage. It dwells primarily in the temperate and cold waters of all oceans. It is found abundant in the Arctic Ocean which constitutes a major part of food source for the Greenland whale. Its population normally measured no more than 3cm in length, but it can grow to a length up to 5cm. It feeds almost exclusively on small Limacina, and Thecosome pteropod.

Scientists believed that Nudibranchs are naked gill molluscs whose ancestors shrugged off their shells millions of years ago and thus Nudibranchs crawl through their lives as slick and naked creature when they are born. Approximately 3,000 species of these marine molluscs are found living particularly from shallow reefs to two miles beneath the sea floors all over the world. The species from the Family Chromodorididae alone are found to be more than 360 species distributed around the oceans of Caribbean, Mediterranean and Indo-Pacific. There are about 350 species of them being identified from the Great Barrier Reef.

Divers may come across these marine animals with their skins, muscles and organs sliding on trails of slime onto the sandy shallows and reefs to the ocean beds and coral heads. Some of them may be seen thriving in warm and cold waters but some even be seen billowing around deep-sea vents.

Though these naked sea slugs have a relatively large arsenal, their sizes are roughly of a human's index finger. Their average sizes can reach to about 50mm. That is why they always become a quick snack and an easy digested food for turtles, sea stars, humans, and even marine organisms. No matter how beautiful and dazzling coloration of their bodies, they live no longer than a year.

In contrast to their beauty, they are born blind as their tiny eyes discerning little more than light and dark. Despite of the blindness, they use their head-mounted sensory appendages called rhinophores and oral tentacles to smell, taste, and feel their world. Their chemical signals assist them to detect food sources like barnacles, small fish, eggs, and other tiny marine organisms. The adaptation of their brightly colored bodies is signals to warn their predators that they are tasteless or even deadly for them to feed on. Some may even have toxic glands just below the surface of their mantles to defend themselves from enemies. However, some species are able to swim swiftly and vigorously when disturbed.

As they are hermaphrodities in nature, and thus they have both male and female reproductive organs, they can fertilize one another. That means during mating, the partners fertilize each other that both become pregnant and lay eggs. They may lay eggs in tangled clumps, ribbons or even in coils depending on their specific species. They will lay up to two millions eggs at a time to double their reproductive success. Some of their young are born with mollusk shell to protect their tender bodies but their shells will quickly shed off thereafter.

Many types of these boneless species use the camouflage by blending their bodies to the colorful surrounding of the reefs while attracting their prey as their food source. This adaptation helps them from being spotted by other predators dwelling deep beneath the sea bed. As they are empowered with skin glands that produce potent poisons, some of them can even make sulphuric acid, and others may produce non-acidic substances. The species like orange peel Nudibranchs for example, secreting toxic chemicals to defend themselves. They will sting any marine creatures that they curious or suspicious by simply giving them a bite. They have no problems to eat toxic sponges or any other harmful marine animals without being suffered from toxicological consequences as they can alter the toxins by turning them into secretions that they will use against their potential predators. Specifically, when they dine on harmful marine organisms, they will reprocess and store the harmful substances from eating stinging-celled animals into their bodies which will be secreted from their skin cells or glands when attacked or disturbed. When threatened or in danger, some Nudibranchs will shed their cerata off to be attached to their predators firing nematocysts to enable them to escape from being captured.

They are carnivores and thus they feed on sessile invertebrates like sea fans, hydroids, sea anemones, bryozoans, barnacles, soft corals, ascidians, fish eggs, sponges and other species of marine organisms. Most of them are adapted for specific diet that may be restricted themselves to particular species of animals or plants. They have a ribbon of teeth called radula that are adapted to match their food choices. Nudibranchs which feed on sponge for example, have broad radulae together with several teeth to help them scraping while feeding on their prey. In contrary, Nudibranchs which feed on hydroids and bryozoans have narrow radulae but firm jaws to enable them crunching while eating. Some of the Nudibranchs will just rely on enzymes instead of teeth to break down their prey. It was reported that some Nudibranchs will change their colors in accordance to what they feed on.

 

• Camels, goats and camels are, of course, animals that come to mind but they are animals domesticated by man. The camel has always been the favorite animal of nomads, because of its well-known qualities of endurance and speed.
• The large yellow scorpion tail us is also well known. It can measure up to 10 cm long.
• The grey monitor lizard, naturally irascible and dark in color
• The sand viper with a flat head and triangular shape live in the sand with, also called Sidewinder
• The fennec fox also lives across the Sahara. The fennec spends the day at the shelter in its burrow. At night, they hunt insects and rodents. Its highly developed hearing, allow it to avoid unnecessary expenditure of energy to know the location of its prey.
• The Ostrich has become rare because it is hunted
• The Addax, big white antelope is an endangered species (mainly because of hunting). Adapted to the desert, it can remain for months without drinking, or even an entire year.
• Dorcas gazelles never drink. The water extracted from the foliage they consume.
• The cheetah lives in Saharan Niger, Mali and Chad. There remaining is only a few hundred. It avoids any human presence, the cheetah fled the sun from April to October. It lives in shrubs such as acacias and balanites.
• The Ganga has the peculiarity of nesting far from the oasis. For watering brood, the male does not hesitate to travel long distances to find a water point. It stores water in its plumage particularly absorbent and returned to its chicks.
  

There are of course other animals in the desert (of birds), but the animals mentioned above are most representative of the Sahara.