This
past weekend, a very strange sort of giant squid was discovered on
the shore of an Australian beach.
Initially, the nearly 600 pound specimen was thought to be Architeuthis
clarkei (the scientific name for the most commonly found giant
squid).
There are literally dozens of large species of squid in the oceans
of the world, but it is the giant squid (hence the name) that is
by far the greatest in size--easily the largest invertebrate on
earth.
According to the expertise of Australian scientists who analyzed
the creature found this past weekend, it is an unidentified
species of giant squid.
As in all cases, it was found dead, located on a
shoreline in Hobart, Tasmania.
(By the way, Jeff Corwin did his most recent documentary on
the duck-billed platypus in Tasmania—it seems to have become a
hotspot for interesting creatures this month.)
Scientists
decided to transport the squid to the Tasmanian Museum and Art
Gallery for further study.
Interestingly enough, they discovered a few very
significant distinctives uncommon to any other giant squid ever
found. The most
noteworthy were thin and elongated muscle “flaps” attached the
arms (8 in total).
David Pemberton, the museum’s senior curator of zoology
remarked, “What we’ve seen on this animal we haven’t seen
on other squid, and it’s a significant feature.”
He continued, “It's basically like having a pile of
muscles on your own body that nobody else has."Amazingly,
the tentacles of the giant squid measured nearly 50 feet long.
Interesting to note, Pemberton satisfied our curiosity in his
humorous remark that because of the high ammonia content of this
new specimen, it would make quite an unpleasant entrée for humans
. . . tasting a bit like bathroom cleaner.
To
date, there have been only 2 other giant
squid found in Tasmania. Worldwide,
and as far as we know (in modern days), adults have not been seen
alive, although scientist have made repeated attempts to raise
very young specimens in captivity (but haven’t been able to
preserve their lives during transportation).
Had we the opportunity to interview sailors from the
“Great Age of Sailing Ships,” I believe we’d have plenty of
wide-eyed first-hand accounts of confrontations with adult giant
squid. Are we
to believe that these fascinatingly immense animals are confined
only to maritime legends and fables?
Certainly not.
Catastophic Floods Built Grand Canyon
by Jordan
Niednagel
TrueAuthority.com
When I read the article, chills
literally went down my spine. The quick formation of the
Grand Canyon has long been an argument of young earth
creationists, and now, just recently, has become much more than
that.
According to evolutionists, the Grand Canyon is between 3 to 5
million years old. Correction. According to
evolutionists, the Grand canyon was between 3 to 5 million years
old. New findings now support other new dating indicating
the canyon's Inner Gorge is no more than 700,000 years old, much
younger on a geological timescale.
According to Robert Webb, a research biologist with USGS, "The
newer interpretation is that there was a basalt dike that crossed
the Grand Canyon that's been dated at 770,000 year ago. So
the Inner Gorge wasn't there then. It's been downcut since
then."
What is downcutting? Downcutting refers to the
phenomenon that occurs when enormous volumes of water are
unleashed by sudden removal or failure of natural barriers such as
lava dams. In the Grand Canyon's case, downcutting means the
Colorado River did not form the canyon through
gradual erosion over millions of years. Rather, they
theorize that intermittent dam failures unleashed massive flash
floods in at least one case carrying many times more water than
the largest Mississippi River overflow ever recorded.
Enormous volumes of water? Flash floods? Sound
familiar?
"It isn't directly relevant to something like the Noachian
flood because in this case we know what the source of the flood
is," Webb said. "It is not like a rainfall flood
that happened over an entire watershed. This is a river being
blocked."
Webb, of course, is assuming that Noah's flood was only the
result of rain. In truth, the "springs of the
deep" broke forth, accompanied by heavy rain.
Furthermore, the reason they theorize that large dams broke is
because they have no other way to account for such large volumes
of water.
Regardless, it puts a heavy burden on those who still believe the
Grand Canyon is the result of the Colorado River.
Rare Predator Photographed For First
Time
by Jonathan
Drake
TrueAuthority.com
A
creature in Tasmania has cleverly avoided all photographers . . .
until now. Called the Lowe's servaline genet, this relative
of the mongoose was recently photographed by scientists for the
first time, confirming the survival of a creature previously known
only from a single skin collected in 1932. The
Wildlife Conservation Society set up a camera trap that snapped
the picture of the genet in Udzunga Mountain National Park in
Tasmania. "Compared to larger carnivores, the
smaller species such as genets and mongooses are very poorly
understood, so one of our aims is to shed more light on this
important and secretive group of animals," said WCS
researcher Daniela De Luca.
Little is known about these species of genet. They are
believed to be nocturnal and tree-dwelling, and are distinguished
from the ten other species of genets by orange coloration in its
white facial spots and lighter-colored feet and legs. A
noteworthy accomplishment, no doubt, and one which further validities
the fact that unknown or rare animals are still alive and well
throughout our world.
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