Little Dinah in the hospital this afternoon. MRI tomorrow.
Posted on 11/11/2016 11:58:52 AM PST by nickcarraway
Dave, a 16-inch-long earthworm discovered recently in England, will become part of the collection at the Natural History Museum in London.
What Paul Rees recently discovered among his vegetables in England's Cheshire County is anything but garden variety: a gigantic earthworm.
Rees's stepson, George, named the behemoth Dave. He's the longest earthworm recorded in the United Kingdom—almost 16 inches—but it's his mass that has really impressed scientists. Dave weighs nearly an ounce, almost twice as heavy as any other wild earthworm ever seen. That's about the size of a small chocolate bar.
Before Dave, the largest earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) was a Scottish specimen found in 2015 that weighed about half an ounce. (Read about the biggest insect that ever lived.)
In London, the Natural History Museum's Emma Sherlock said she was astonished by the find.
“I was bowled over by the size of the worm when I opened the plastic box they sent it in,” Sherlock said in the press release. (The museum told National Geographic that Sherlock was not available for an interview.)
“I look forward to seeing if anyone can find an even bigger example by taking part in the Earthworm Watch survey this autumn," says Sherlock, who also chairs the Earthworm Society of Britain.
To the chagrin of many of his social media fans, Dave was killed for scientific reasons and will now be on display as part of the museum's collection.
Twitter users expressed their anger at the worm's fate at #davetheworm and even created a Twitter account for the dead invertebrate, @PoorDaveTheWorm.
Earthworms Make Happy Soil This earthworm species is common throughout Europe, where they usually reach lengths of between eight to 10 inches. Because earthworms have many predators, the invertebrates normally do not survive long enough in the wild to reach Dave's proportions. Their life span is unknown, but the worms have reached six years old in captivity.
Dave also plays an equally huge role in his ecosystem by keeping soils healthy. The animals boost the soil's carbon storage by mixing in decomposing plant material, which also helps improve soil fertility. (Also see "Mysterious Mounds in South America Are Likely Worm Poop.")
For instance, earthworm burrows increase the amount of air and water in soil, making the land aerated and productive. (Test your soil IQ.)
“With worms this size, Paul [Rees] must have an incredibly fertile and well-drained vegetable plot with decaying matter quickly recycled back into the soil,” Sherlock said.
Frankie will just assume life is like this for everyone.
Sherlock said....No shit, Sherlock?
eggsackly!
Frankie weighs 97 pounds and Bongo weighs about 20. Frankie can leap straight up (sproink) with his head clearing 6 feet. Bongo’s head isn’t even a foot off of the ground.
This first video is “pronking”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX5bax3GkZY
This one is “sproinking” to see over a fence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yD6wLRtHCQ
Wow.
"By the 1860s, European settlers had also imported a variety of mainly European dog breeds to this area of Africa, including such dedicated hunting dogs as great Danes, bloodhounds, greyhounds, and terriers. These breeds were bred with the indigenous African dogs, including the dog of the Khoikhoi people, which resulted in the Boer hunting dogs, generically called names such as boerhund (Boer hound) in Dutch then its descendant language of Afrikaans, which are the chief forerunners to the modern Rhodesian ridgeback.[2] Other breeds came from Arabian traders around the Horn of Africa and with Asian immigrants, particularly into the Cape Colony, and jackal coursing introduced from British India brought lurchers from England and Ireland and the borzoi or Russian wolfhound, and before the era of standardized modern breeds, several breeds may have more rarely have contributed to Rhodesian ridgeback genetics. "
Source: Wikipedia
We had a rescue Greyhound for many years. She lived to be 14.
Very interesting. It’s been just four years since we lost our Ash, and we’re still waiting for some of the larger Offspring to move out before we get another greyhound.
They’re wonderful dogs. If it weren’t for my husband severely injuring his back lifting our RR Dinah into the back of my SUV during her radiation treatments, we would be getting another Grey.
We may still get another if he recovers completely.
It doesn’t seem like anyone would have to lift the two dogs you have!
I would get Tom the Son to lift Ash when she couldn’t get into the car.
Little Dinah in the hospital this afternoon. MRI tomorrow.
They have such kind, intelligent faces. Ash had bone cancer. We decided against radiation (and amputation!) and just gave her pain medication as long as she could stand.
A few months ago, we were watching a tv show, and one of the characters had a pair of whippets. We both sighed and said, “I want another greyhound!”
The last year of her life I had my Hallie out in the front yard with me while I gardened. She wandered off a couple of times, but I knew her so well that I easily found her. She loved being out there with me and I loved it too!
Such wonderful, gentle and goofy dogs!
DANG!
Ash would tell me she was just going to lie on the doormat in the sun ... but then she would go walkabout. After a few hundred yards, she would walk up to the first person she saw and grin at him, “You love dogs, right?” and they would read her tag and phone. “I have your greyhound near (address),” and we’d go get her. It was a game.
LOL! Such funny dogs. :)
We would take her on drives around the countryside so she could smell all the chicken farms and dead stuff. Good times.
LOLOL!! Ours was quite a predator. Our 120 pound RR held a chipmunk in his mouth and dropped it into my husband’s hand, uninjured. Hallie would leap in the air to try and catch birds. She was amazing.
Ash would chase a squirrel sometimes, but she was more into being retired.
My husband’s mother was a close friend of Dr. Elsie Neustadt.
http://www.greyhoundclubofamericainc.org/club-information/
Interesting. We have a breeder of show greyhounds in this area; I remember an article in a local newspaper. Ash came from South Carolina, but there’s also a rescue group in North Carolina.
Kathleen, my youngest, is very interested in animals, so we’ve read a lot of books about different dog (and cat, and horse) breeds. Each has its own special appeal. Kathleen rides an enormous quarter horse at her lessons, and she can name the breed of the other horses at the stable.
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