Random Mashup: 1# Amazing Footage from Hydrothermal Vents 2# Not Enough Vitamin C? Eat A Narwhal ! 3# Female Dragon Flies Pretend Death To Avoid Sex

Are you ready for another random mash-up of cool stuff I stumbled upon while being lazy in the office? Yes? Ok let's go:

1# Amazing Footage Of Hydrothermal Vents By EV Nautilus

As I have said in many posts in the past (like this one and this one) I just love the youtube channel of the EV Nautilus mission. Each and every video is a true gem that you should definitely watch.  After a month of not uploading anything, yesterday they gave us some really mind-blowing footage taken from various hydrothermal vents from past missions. Be amazed:

2 # Deficient in Vitamin C? Fuck Fruits, Eat a Narwhal!

No, please don't, I am joking. And in case this is your first time you hear about narwhals, they are probably one of the coolest creatures found in our seas:

(credit)

Ok, back to the vitamin c thing. It turns out that for Inuit people the skin of Narwhals is often the only source of Vitamin C. So after stumbling upon this fact, my next question was ok... Inuits get vitamin c from narwhals but where where do narwhals get their vitamin c from? 

And then I found out than one other area where the human species sucks majorly is at not being able to produce ascorbic acid whereas the vast majority of animals have no problem doing so:

The vast majority of animals and plants are able to synthesize vitamin C, through a sequence of enzyme-driven steps, which convert monosaccharides to vitamin C.

Among the mammals that have lost the ability to synthesize vitamin C are simians and tarsiers, which together make up one of two major primate suborders, Haplorrhini. This group includes humans. The other more primitive primates (Strepsirrhini) have the ability to make vitamin C. Synthesis does not occur in a number of species (perhaps all species) in the small rodent family Caviidae that includes guinea pigs and capybaras, but occurs in other rodents (rats and mice do not need vitamin C in their diet, for example). [source]

 3# Female Dragon Flies Pretend Sudden Death To Avoid Sex

(credit)

When a woman doesn't want to have sex with a guy she might come with all kind of things. From a simple "no" to "I have a headache" to whatever. 

But according to this article (I couldn't find the paper, if there is actually one), female dragon flies don't have time for that shit, so they just pretend fake sudden death when a male doesn't suit their taste! 

This behavior was first noticed by Rassim Khelifa from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, who saw a moorland hawker dragonfly (Aeshna juncea) crash-dive to the ground while being pursued by a male! The female stayed motionless and when the dissapointed and horny male flew away, "came back" to life!

In total, Rassim witnessed 27 out of 31 females that plummeted and played dead to avoid sex, out of which 21 did manage to avoid sex. 

But why females take such extreme measures to avoid sex?  Here's the answer:

Female moorland hawkers are vulnerable to harassment when they lay their eggs since, unlike some other dragonflies, they aren’t guarded by their male mates. A single sexual encounter with another male is enough to fertilise all eggs and copulating again could damage their reproductive tract.  [source]

The End

So that's all for today. Like always, I will conclude today's post with a totally un-related & random video:

Yes, this is a real creature. It's a glaucus atlanticus or a blue dragon as it's commonly known!

More Strange Animal Stuff  
If you enjoyed reading  this post I am sure you will love some of my previous posts:

• Giant Isopods - Aliens Of The Deep
• 3 Creepy Critters I Discovered This Week + Baby Bat Burritos
• Clathrus archeri: Weird Alien-Like Eggs Hatch Into Weird Octopus Thing
• The Horseshoe Crab Named After Darth Vader
• Lobster with Pepsi Tattoo Fished In Canada !
• The Jesus Christ Lizard: A Lizard That Can "Walk" On Water
• It's a Scorpion...It's a Fly...It's a Scorpionfly! (Panorpa communis)
• Can You Guess What Animal Has The Biggest Penis In The World?