Posted on 08/15/2012 10:05:58 AM PDT by null and void
Taryn Hook with Larry, a beloved boa constrictor whose affliction prompted the lifelong keeper of reptiles to get in touch with a researcher who hunts down viruses.
Snake story
IBD afflicts pythons and boa constrictors, causing a host of strange symptoms. The snakes tie themselves in knots, they projectile vomit and engage in an eerie behavior called stargazing; the snakes raise their heads over and over, stare into thin air, and sway drunkenly from side to side.
... The scientists put out a call for samples of diseased and nondiseased snakes ... the Steinhart Aquarium ... had a sudden outbreak of IBD.
Many snakes, ... with and without IBD, had to be killed, providing the lab with plenty of ... tissue to start ... investigation.
...rifled through the genes of the dead snakes and soon had millions and millions of sequences. But to sort out which sequence might belong to any suspect viruses, he needed the ultimate genetic blueprint — the boa constrictor genome...
...A contest called Assemblathon 2 ... chose to take a stab at sequencing the red-tailed boa constrictor's genome, and Stenglein got his hands on the results.
Another wall
Juliet's kidney cells, growing in the lab. They continue to reproduce, allowing researchers to better study a newfound and mysterious virus. CREDIT: Mark Stenglein.
Frightening family tree
... it turns out the newfound virus has some dangerous relations. It looks like a mash-up of two different viruses that can jump from animals to humans, and cause diseases such as Lassa fever and Ebola.
... There's no evidence that the snake virus can affect humans. The fact that it refused to grow in any cells but a boa constrictor's suggests there is a strong species barrier that protects humans.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
sounds like a solution to the snakes that are invading Floriduh....
Hmmmmmm...
There were, of course, epidemics of ebola-like diseases ~ that are well known!
othersise known as pre-show warmup on MSNBC "news" shows.
Did you see the article on FR yesterday (I think it was yesterday) about the GIANT python (or was it boa constrictor? they’re both horrible) in FL that was pregant with something like 87 eggs, and was ONE FOOT ACROSS????!!!
Is the world going to heckipoo or what.
That woman in the photo looks psychotic btw.
“sounds like a solution to the snakes that are invading Floriduh....”
No, NO, NOOOO ! ! !
Agencies and AgencyPerson jobs are depending on a new “Invasive Species” to control. Down in the Swamp of Socialism, AKA The Everglades, AgencyPersons used Invasive Species control money to exterminate the wild hogs in the Everglades.
According to the Armed & Rangerous, even though hogs had lived in all of Florida for the last 400 years, the habitats were not adapted to the destruction caused by ‘Boss Hawg’ and family.
So, your tax bucks were used to kill off the hogs, anand in my area, Ranger Randy and the rest of the Armed & Rangerous instituted their own version of Aporkalypse Now. These uniformed clowns burned lots of helicopter hours and scads of ammo. ParkMan won the “Battle of the Hawg”, and so did the pythons.
As anyone with more intelligence than a Pet Rock knows, pigs love snake. They think of a snake as a delicacy. Should a herd of hogs encounter a large python, and should the python wrap around Harry the hawg, the rest of the herd will happily chow down the snake. And, should Harry not be in shape to join the feeding frenzy, he will be eaten as well.
But, the Goobers from the Gooberment “deemed” the hawgs to be an invasive species. Result: No hawgs and the pythons are hawging down everything in sight. The largest one to date was 17.5 feet long!
Making it worse is that ParkMan requires snake hunters to capture the snakes alive. Not only that, they do not allow power vehicles in Everglades National Park and the rest of the Glades vehicle use area is effectively reduced to a tiny portion.
So, ParkMan wants us to capture alive snakes up to 17+ feet long and carry them miles back to the road. Not surprisingly, both Rambo and Superman declined offers to hunt python.
Conclusion: The Founders were correct when they carefully limited Federal ownership of land to the few listed in the Constitution. Government can’t manage land, and ParkMan’s failed “Aporkalypse Now” program proved the Founders correct.
Ask the pythons!
Rise Of The Serpent!
Snakes?
So now democrats are carriers of ebola?
Maybe she just wiped off projectile vomit from her snake...
Not my choice in a pet. I suspect I would get a bruised heel.
Apparently the snakes get it from ‘Rats...
Nah, all California wimin look like that to one degree or another...
Someone has read Genesis...
I don’t get out much...
Ping...(Thanks, nully!)
Do I have to threaten to report you to the mod — or can I just ask to be put on your BOYD pinglist?
Happy to live in New England..
“sounds like a solution to the snakes that are invading Floriduh....”
I’m thinking that is a high-risk proposal.
Put welfare people to work killing the snakes, instead.
Thanks for the ping (I think) :) Our grandkids have snakes so I emailed the link to them. I’m sure it won’t give them the willies like it did to me. (snakes...shudder)
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