daria

 Reindeer change color of reflective layer in their eyes between summer and winter to deal with Arctic darkness. In the summer their eyes are gold with turquoise and iridescent like golden opal. In winter layer in thier eyes turns into deep blue. Scientists have spent years trying to solve the mystery of how reindeers change color. In Alaska sun doesnt even cross the horizon for more than 60 days in winter. Reindeers are drenched daily in 12 to 14 hours of seep twilight. Winter twilight is 100,000 times fainter than is summer dalight. And plenty of animals deal with dim light. Tapetum lucidum is one adaptation. When living in darkness every photon matters. Tapeta vary in color and are often goldish or bronzed or greenish, its a reason eye can reflect eerily at night. Reindeer tapeta turn blue in winter because it has to do with maximizing light absorption in the blue color range during the long, dark winter twilight. Also sensitivity of their eyes is much higher in winter than in s...

 Jeff de Boer is an artist and has designed and crafted armoe for cats and mice for 36 years. It is the one first and only armor for cats and mices. He created more than 500 suits of animal armor. Purpose of this armor is not to wear animals in it but to enchance peoples imagination and help people see the hero in animals like mices. De Boer's inspiration began with a visit to armor collection and he was at young age. Then he started toling around and made himself his first human size suit of armor. He had passion for creating armor and he could craft armor for miniature size. But he wanted to be more original so he made a suit of armor for a mouse. Later he also wanted to create armor for cats because they represent power of art. Jeff works on a miniature scale so he creates his own tools and rivets. It can take 40 hours to make 5 to 10 tools. Then additional 30-50 hours to create a mouse. Most of them are crafted form nickel, steel, gold or platinum. Jeff thinks its part of histo...

  Tradition of eating plant based whole foods has been handed down from generation go generation. Traditional diet for Africans was vegetarian, consisting mostly of greens, root vegetables, sesame seeds and cereals. Africans brought with them seeds of native foods to America. They both cooked with corn, sweet potatoes and beans. This cuisine was made from ingredients that support longevity. The dish Hoppin’ John is supposed to bring good luck if eaten on New Year’s Day. Several culinary tendencies that travelled with people from Africa to the Americans are signature dishes and techniques in US. Including fritters, boiled greens, rice dishes and use od okra, nuts and seeds. Also knowledge of Africans of seasonings and spices transformed normall dishes into zesty meals. Longevity is also social interaction, plant based foods, thier traditions, shared meals and and helping those in need. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/gullah-geechee-health-food-blue-zones-recipe

  Christmas markets are part of Germany tradition and its where it actually began its history. In Germany typically there are 3,000 holiday markets a year and they are pretty popular. Now these markets are returning after   COVID-19. Markets are not all about buying ornaments and stuff. It is said that it is a whole experience of smells, sounds, visuals, atmosphere and people around. Some of Germany’s existing Christmas markets trace their origins as far back as the 15th and 16th centuries. First market was named Dresden’s market on Christmas Eve in 1434. Now it attracts more than 2.5 million visitors each year. Back then winter markets were the biggest with locals selling original stuff, meat, baked good and sweets. Sometimes there were also toys and christmas trees. Industrial Revolution had huge effect on Christmas markets. The standard of living and emergence of working class fueled the growth of markets. Markets were growing bigger and could offer more different things fo...

  Siamese crocodiles can be found in waterways and may look ferocious. But truth is if we come close to them they will run away. In the world there have been few reported atracks by siamese crocodiles on humans and also not reported none anywhere in Combodia. In fact these animals have reason to fear people. In Asia they were hunted for its skin and meat. Because of it these crocodiles were thought to be extinct in the wild. Some of them survived and local people created patrols to protect them from threats. It actually helped but now they are rarest reptiles on Earth. This year investigators introduced more siamese crocodiles into the wild than ever before. The potential comeback of these crocodiles could be most successful story in Cambodia. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/siamese-crocodiles-rare-reptiles-cambodia

Donkeys in the West are associated with zoos and hobby farms. Around the world they are highly valued for transporting water and goods. China imports milions of donkey skins from Africa to make traditional medicine ejiao. This medicine remendy dizziness, insomia and enhance fertility. But in fact skins can carry dangerous diseases like equine horse sickness and MRSA and other dangerous bacteria. Number of countries like Nigeria, Kenya banned the export of donkey skins. But trade is still legal in South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia and Botswana. But even if it is banned in some countries, there are still illegal strades in the world. And trades are spreading zoonotic diseases from Africa to Asia and so on. The entire trade in donkeys is a very risky buisness because of many diseases coming with those skins. Donkeys being taken to the slaughterhouses can spread diseases to other animals nearby. There were many cases when donkeys infected horses, from 3,000 horses 270 died from disease. Theres...

We live in a world of viruses, there is a lot of different viruses and they are almost everywhere. Even ocean may contain viral particles. When it comes to animlas, mammals may carry at least 320,000 different species of viruses. But  when it comes to people, they may not know that they are dealing with viruses in everyday life. But even if lots of plants, animals, bacterias are infected, many of those viruses may bring adaptive benefits to life on Earth. In fact we wouldnt be albe to live without them, we wouldnt have arisen form the primordial muck. Two lengths of DNA originate form viruses and now they are in the genomes. Genomes without which pregnancy would be impossible. Another thing is that there is viral DNA among animals genes and it helps them store memories. Other genes coming from viruses can regulate immune system or even resist cancer. This shows that viruses play important role in life and help with evolution. If there werent any viruses biological variety would jus...