Check it out

[PelagicMagic]

it may save someones life one day

[jenajet]

Not sure how that would save my life I'm not a mantis. Surely there are other ways of doing that. You don't see them putting rattlesnakes in with other animals to see how we can be helped. There has to be a better way of studying the bluering without killing it or other animals. Yeah I'm one of those animal lovers that protest animal cruelty.

[PelagicMagic]

if we can figure out how the mantis evolved to protect itself from the poison we can replicate it or extract it and create an anti venom or treatment for those that are bitten by blue rings

[jdbassin]

Yes, but what does video taping it and puting it out on the internet for the world to view have to do with the expeiment?

jd

[PelagicMagic]

video is probably for experiment documentation. They have to document what they are doing in case they need to come back to study it again w/o harming more animals. I agree it serves no purpose to be on the internet.

[VWD]

That is something else

[Casey]

yea freaked me out Vince.

[whatevva]

WOW!! I guess can see both sides of the argument for an experiment like that. I've done a lot of control work for animal testing labs and I've seen some hideous things. Unfortunately I've grown a sort of numbness to it. I guess , in a way I had to, just to be able to do my job.

[DebsSisterFlo]

gosh Butch, man I'd have gotten a different job...

that is a pretty little octopus tho, I'd never seen one. I want to know how friggin' big that mantis is!

[mantisfreak]

Originally Posted by DebsSisterFlo

I want to know how friggin' big that mantis is!

O.s. can grow up to 7~7.5 inches long. They are one of the few mantis that can actually harm you. (They are also my favorite). No worries though as they are never hitchhikers. Heck, I grab most hitchhiking mantis in my local reef clubs reef tanks with my bare hands.

The experiment was necessary because they don't know why Peacock's don't die from them. Is it because they don't get bit? Is it because they avoid the poison glands during ingestion? Do they have some sort of tolerance to the toxins?

Through experimentation, it appears that they definately avoid being bit. However, they do ingest the poison glands and no one knows why they don't die. If you felt sorry for the blue-ring, understand that many of my favorite mantis shrimp are now going to die to determine how they detoxify the toxin. Hopefully at the end of all of this, there will be an antivenin for blue-rings that will save human lives.

[mantisfreak]

Originally Posted by ChrisPrusha

Wouldn't it be better injecting the venom into the mantis than watching an animal stuggle for its life, and ultimately lose that struggle?

The same thing would have happened to the mantis had they not understood how the mantis survived the toxins not to mention they would have to kill the blue-ring to obtain the toxin. Only this time, the mantis would have struggled to live and possibly ultimately lose.

Are you an Anti-Mantisite?

(If you don't like Seinfeld, you won't get the Anti-Dentite connotation).

[ChrisPrusha]

I understand where you are coming from, Curt.

And no, I am not Anti-Mantisite.

[mantisfreak]

I've watched the video. I found it interesting but I don't really want to watch it again. I have also posted many other mantis videos in the past on numerous boards so that people learn about stomatopods.

There are some people who've produced videos that I don't agree with and I will not post them. They act like their mantis is in a pitbull fight or a cock fight. That's disgusting to me. (Heck, I take spiders outside on a piece of paper when Rachel wants me to squoosh them). This particular video kind of looked like it was similar but it was done for scientific reasons.

FWIW....I completely understand people's apprehension after seeing this video.

[69falcon]

That was sweet!!! I love both animals!

[Fly Guy]

Here is an octopus getting the best of something unexpected.....

I know this is the "Mantis" forum........but this is posted in memory of that poor little blue ring ; )

its the third vid down

http://podcast.nationalgeographic.com/ng-video-shorts/