Zoos

            Seeing all those animals, the camels, the lions and the geckos just gets me ready for an adventure to see more of these beautiful animals in the wild. Zoos are amazing, it is the only place to see the world of animals and learn about them without paying thousands of dollars traveling all over the world. The best field trips as a kid were going to the zoo, to see all the magnificent animals.

            Zoos have always been the place to take the kids. It is a great place to go. You learn about animals and biology while having fun looking at big cats, laughing dogs (hyenas), rhinos and insects. Even as an adult, sometimes you might be in the mood to go see the giraffes or something like that. You may get creepy looks from parents, but a protective moms feeling does nothing to keep you from riding that camel by yourself. Children are just an excuse to go to the zoo.

            Over the years, zoos have improved drastically. They have gone from tiny little concrete cages for animals to giant habitat-filled enclosures.  These ultra-deluxe enclosures are safe havens for the creatures. Food, medicine, etc. all being provided for and all the animals have to do is sit there and look good. Most people don’t like the concept of zoos. It does make sense to not like them with the animals locked up and trapped without the freedom they deserve. If humans were stuck in some enclosure, we would go insane within a week, bored out of our minds. Other animals I think are different, freedom is a term that varies based on whom you ask. Freedom for one person could be totally different to another. Most creatures on earth are not like us when it comes to being caged up.  Most creatures would be super happy just to have a little bit of space, food, and someone to talk too. While if we were without our freedom and breathing space, caged up in an “enclosure”, we change. Shawshank Redemption shows this unbelievably well. It shows that after being locked up, people are not what they used to be when they get out, even with people around to talk to, being locked up with no rights hurts people. Brooks, a character from the film was locked up most his life with no freedom, he could not take the pressure and ended his life. Animals aren’t like us, it does not hurt them, but I can’t prove that.

Masked Thief

                They lurk in the dark, hide in the shadows waiting for the right time to strike.  They are Raccoons - the unbelievable and annoyingly witty animals that survive in the real world, scavenging and stealing our food, causing chaos in your local suburban area.  ‘Coons have magic abilities making human traps and obstacles no problem for these masked thieves, they are untrapable and cannot be seen unless wanting too. They move in the dark, only coming out when the sun has gone down and the humans have long been asleep, leaving the opportunity to wreak havoc on suburbia.

                Raccoon's dominate the United States. They can be found in every state (excluding Alaska) terrorizing homeowners and their precious gardens and garbage cans. Raccoons are an iconic backyard occurrence in this country.  Every discussion at the monthly neighborhood meeting is how the coons’ destroyed the house or how they ate the cat. The hero and king of the wild frontier, Davy Crockett made coons’ famous by sporting the Raccoon hunter hat look, turning raccoon hats into a giant craze with every cool kid having one or wanting one.

                How have they had so much success in the world of humans, you ask?  Smarts is the key to their success. They adapt and learn different environments at an extremely fast pace, along with teaching their young all of their tips of annoying a human. They learn traps, doors, locks, and all the things you use to try and stop them.  They only get smarter and stronger. Their wits are like no other animal making them able to thrive so easily in the harsh environment we humans have created. They are also not very picky. Omnivores are what it is called when an animal eats vegetation and meat, but raccoons take it a step further by eating everything. The trash, the hamster, or anything else that it can fit in its garbage disposal of a mouth will be eaten if it’s hungry enough. 

                In conclusion, humans can’t stand raccoons because they finally found an animal that can outsmart and outwit them. We humans like to keep our pride, but those thieves keep stealing it, along with our garbage.

                

Bullet Ants

            Pain, although no one really likes it, it is extremely important in keeping us alive and keeping us from having bruises and cuts all over the place. Pain lets us know what parts of our body our injured along with keeping us away from things that hurt us. It may seem like it would be pretty awesome to not feel pain, but without it, sores, broken bones, etc would affect our body and we wouldn't even know about it. Pain is what keeps us alive, without it, we could kill ourselves without knowing it in a few days. Although it’s extremely important to us, pain in bucket-loads can make us immobile and lose track of everything but pain. Bullet Ants use pain to keep predators away.

             Bullet ants live in Rain forest low land areas such as Nicaragua, Honduras, and Paraguay. They’re mostly found beneath trees, gathering food for the hive and protecting the queen. As long as you don’t bother them, trust me you don’t want to, they won’t bother you. If you are completely absent-minded and decided hey, YOLO, I’m going annoy these ants, then prepare your body for the worst pain in the world. This is not an understatement either.  Based on the Schmidt sting pain index, the Bullet Ant sting is the most painful in the world, above even the tarantula hawk wasp. The sting is not deadly but it can cause paralysis and shaking for a few days following the sting.  Along with it being the worst pain in the world, it doesn't stop. Some people have experienced pain lasting up to a full day.  Victims have described it as “Waves of excruciating pain” or it feels like getting shot, which is why it’s called the bullet ant. Here is an example of some of the pain and torture of the sting (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it0V7xv9qu0).

           

What makes it so much more painful than other stings is the way it just messes with your entire central nervous system. Sodium ion channels get blocked, causing our body just to go on full panic mode and send tons of pain signals to the brain, making the fury and torture that bullet ants use to defend themselves.

            Fun Fact: Today, members of the manly and kind of insane Satere-Mawe tribe like to use this pain to prove how tough they are. They put on the gloves of death (stingers inside a pouch) just to feel the worst feeling in the world. Sounds like a fun and entertaining initiation for a Frat house.