Blanket octopus and NO THAT IS NOT A SNEAKY MICHAEL JACKSON REFERENCE
Been way too much celebrity around these parts for comfort lately (not that I’m not grateful for three rt’s from John Cusack this morning) so I thought I’d flush out the pipes with this gorgeous beast, surely as lovely in its own way as Paul Newman in his, although far less likely to send underprivileged kids to camp or manufacture (excellent) salad dressing, and far more likely to serve as an entree in a Greek restaurant.
Remember when we brought you the world’s cutest octopus all the way from the frozen waters of Eastern Canada? Isn’t the little fella just adorbz?
Well, now we’ve gone and found you his (literal) polar opposite: an Antipodean octopus so unstoppably noxious that that its poisonous venom flows at will even at sub-zero temperatures.
According to Wired (hey, when did they get on the Cthulhu beat? I WILL NOT BE MUSCLED OUT, YOU CARPETBAGGERS!!!):
“Antarctic octopus venom works at temperatures that would stop other venoms in their tracks,” said biochemist Bryan Fry of the University of Melbourne, who led the expedition…
The venoms are being studied as potential sources of pain-killers, Fry said, because they work on the nervous system. So far, analysis of the venom has revealed two toxins that are new to science.
Ah, but not to us Comparative Folklore majors, eh?
That is an as-yet-unnamed-but-obviously-world’s-cutest variety of octopus that’s been found by a new expedition to the dark depths off Newfoundland. I suggest “Octo-Newf” as it is both geographically specific and way cute. As we’ve mentioned before, cute is critical in our contemporary media climate. You’ve gotta have a gimmick if you hope to knock Boat Smashing Whale off the evening news.
From Tumblr:
Michio Hoshino, a photographer known for his pictures of bears and other wildlife, was mauled to death by a brown bear on the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia. He was in his mid-40’s and lived in Fairbanks, Alaska.
This is the last photo he took.
Which surprises no-one.
Update, ah, so it turns out this is an oldie. Still not sure I buy that guy on Reddit who says the body is from a cariboo, but I’m certainly no photoshop expert.
Here, have the extra-tasteless Timothy Treadwell Soundboard and remix the audio of his death by grizzly instead.
raincoaster 