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Carrion Luggage  Native to the Americas, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) travels widely in search of sustenance. While usually foraging alone, it relies on other individuals of its species for companionship and mutual protection. Sometimes misunderstood, sometimes feared, sometimes shunned, it nevertheless performs an important role in the ecosystem. This scavenger bird is a marvel of efficiency. Rather than expend energy flapping its wings, it instead locates uplifting columns of air, and spirals within them in order to glide to greater heights. This behavior has been mistaken for opportunism, interpreted as if it is circling doomed terrestrial animals destined to be its next meal. In truth, the vulture takes advantage of these thermals to gain the altitude needed glide longer distances, flying not out of necessity, but for the joy of it. It also avoids the exertion necessary to capture live prey, preferring instead to feast upon that which is already dead. In this behavior, it resembles many humans. It is not what most of us would consider to be a pretty bird. While its habits are often off-putting, or even disgusting, to members of more fastidious species, the turkey vulture helps to keep the environment from being clogged with detritus. Hence its Latin binomial, which translates to English as "golden purifier." I rarely know where the winds will take me next, or what I might find there. The journey is the destination. |
| From Nautilus, a reminder that "bug bomb" used to mean something very different. Maybe they should have called it a bugapult instead of a catapult. Alongside sticks, stones, and bone, humans also once harnessed a surprising ally in their early weaponry: insects. To bee, or not to bee? Researchers hypothesize that humans started using them on the battlefield as far back as 100,000 years ago, long before the beginning of recorded history. Yeah, okay, but I'm going to need something more than guesswork. Venomous stingers, refined through millions of years of evolution, can tear the skin and unleash poison. Bacteria that cause deadly diseases in humans and other animals can hitch a ride as insects scatter and swarm across a human landscape. Clearly, they didn't know about the whole bacteria thing, just that bugs somehow caused illness and death sometimes. Bee Cannons Beehive bombs may have been some of the first projectile weapons, according to scholars. As early as Neolithic times, evidence suggests that warriors would attack enemies hiding in caves by throwing hornet nests through the openings. I'll give them a pass on confusing bees, hornets, wasps, etc. Bee-cause the idea of a bee cannon is darkly humorous. Bee Grenades As early as 2600 B.C., the ancient Mayans conscripted bees for warfare. Mayans, traditionally skilled potters, are understood to have created specialized bee grenades from clay. This is even more funny. If, of course, you're not the one getting stung by the bees (or whatever). Scorpion Bombs When the Roman emperor Septimus Severus waged the Second Parthian War to expand his control to Mesopotamia in 198-99 A.D., little did he know that his soldiers would also be up against venomous stinging creatures. I can also forgive the stinging insect confusion above because a) they know the difference between "venomous" and "poisonous," and b) they didn't call scorpions "insects." Yeah, I know, calling everything a "bug" is just as wrong, from a taxonomic point of view, but everyone knows what you mean and it's easier than saying "arthropod." Porcelain Flea Bombs In 1920s Japan, a mosquito-borne encephalitis virus killed 3,500 people on the island of Shikoku. General Shiro Ishii, a microbiologist and an army officer, was sent to Shikoku to study the epidemic, and he quickly began to plot using the great destructive power of insects for war. Hm... Porcelain Flea Bombs would make an excellent band name. Maggot Bombs In the interest of expanding their repertoire, Japanese Unit 731 began experimenting with house flies—a pest known to flourish among human habitations. Borrowing from the design of the Uji bombs, they developed the maggot bomb, officially known as the Yagi bomb. As the article notes, no maggots were actually involved, but adult flies were. Because of the horrors such weapons visited upon their human victims, the Geneva Protocol of 1925 prohibited the use of biological weapons in war, and by 1972, international authorities had outlawed even their creation or possession. Oh, yeah, that always works. However long ago bug warfare actually started, I'm once again impressed at the creativity of humans when it comes to destroying or inconveniencing other humans. |
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