#zoophagy

As much as I absolutely adore Dungeon Meshi I must say that Laios reminds me of a bit too much of the Buckland family.

The father William Buckland wrote one of the first papers on fossilized dinosaurs but had some odd quirks. He claimed to have eaten through the whole animal kingdom.

His son Frank Buckland took over after his father and was perhaps not as good a scientist but he had a deal with a zoo to eat every animal who died there. He and his father kept a lot of live animals but are mostly know for their zoophage. We are talking “boiled elephant trunk, rhinoceros pie, porpoise heads, and stewed mole.”

They are noted for being “racy” and “highly eccentric” which for British aristocracy sure is saying a lot.

In case anyone is hungry, yes, this is totally a thing. Entomophagy is a nutritious source of calories and very environmentally friendly. Prepared correctly, they are much better for you than entire whole birds, which, as has been demonstrated, can cause vomiting.

Prepared correctly is key here for entomophagy. I cannot recommend eating raw flies. House flies are covered in rather disease causing pathogens (including but not limited to E. coli, cholera, typhoid fever, and dysentery) so cooking is essential. Especially in Victorian insane asylums.

Give your patients more protein, Jack!!! I am sure some of my other classmates in the Tumblr University Dracula Daily Course can and have contributed to the nutritional standards of Victorian insane asylums, but my wager is that many of them served their patients with a diet heavy in cheap gruel with a side of sugar to make it palatable. A cursory understanding of a macro nutrient diet demonstrates the need for high quality protein if one wants to build strength. (Spoilers: Renfield is surprisingly strong and in all likelihood indulges in a secret fitness regimen that Jack knows nothing about. Wall climbing is not easy and must be prepared for.)

Surgery Floor Scrapings Vol. 1

In my research and readings, I often come across little tidbits of medical information and history, too juicy to leave alone and yet not substantial enough to merit an entire article. I decided to collect some of my favourites together for you into one handy to read collection. Enjoy!

This instrument is responsible for more unwanted children than a 70’s rock band.

Like myself, you probably enjoy…

Mention the word "liverwort" to most folks and you are going to get some funny looks. However, mention it to the right person and you will inevitably be drawn into a world of deep appreciation for this lowly branch of the plant kingdom. The world of liverworts is best appreciated with a hand lens or microscope.

A complete lack of vascular tissue means this ancient lineage is often consigned to humid nooks and crannies. Look closely, however, and you are in for lots of surprises. For instance, did you know that there are liverworts that may be utilizing animal traps?

Right out of the gates I need to say that the most current research does not have this labelled as carnivorous behavior. Nonetheless, the presence of such derived morphological features in liverworts is quite sensational. These "traps" have been identified in at least two species of liverwort, Colura zoophaga, which is native to the highlands of Africa, and Pleurozia purpurea, which has a much wider distribution throughout the peatlands of the world.

The traps are incredibly small and likely derived from water storage organs. What is different about these traps is that they have a moveable lid that only opens inward. In the wild it is not uncommon to find these traps full of protozoans as well as other small microfauna. Researchers aimed to find out whether or not this is due to chance or if there is some active capture going on.

Using feeding experiments it was found that some protozoans are actually attracted to these plants. What's more these traps do indeed function in a similar way to the bladders of the known carnivorous genus Utricularia. Despite these observations, no digestive enzymes have been detected to date. For now researchers are suggesting that this is a form of "zoophagy" in which animals lured inside the traps die and are broken down by bacterial communities. In this way, these liverworts may be indirectly benefiting from the work of the bacteria.

This is not unheard of in the plant world. In fact, there are many species of pitcher plants that utilize similar methods of obtaining valuable nutrients. Certainly the lack of nutrients in the preferred habitats of these liverworts mean any supplement would be beneficial.

Photo Credits: Matt von Konrat Ph.D - Biblioteca Digital Mundial (eol.org), HESS ET AL. 2005 (http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1639/6), and Sebastian Hess (http://virtuelle.gefil.de/s-hess/forsch.html)