Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Yummy... tastes like chicken!

I picked up a copy of the NY Times to read on my way home from that debacle of a Rangers game yesterday. I came across an interesting article on Caecilians in the Science section. Now, I had never heard of these strange worm-like amphibians until I read about them in a Costa Rica wildlife guide last year. Little is known about them despite the fact that there are probably millions of individuals on at least 4 continents.

The Times focused on one species: Boulengerula taitanus. "Hatchlings of the species [...] have special teeth that enable them to peel the skin off their mothers. The hatchlings eat the skin, which is thicker than normal, swollen with fats and other nutrients. It's their only source of food during their first days." Wouldn't it be something if humans shared that same behavior?

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