billytea, DH wants to know if there is a species of giant ticks in Australia. I told him you might know.
Y'all see the man hanging out of the spaceship with the really big gun? Now I'm not saying you weren't easy to find. It was kinda out of our way, and he didn't want to come in the first place. Man's lookin' to kill some folk. So really it's his will y'all should worry about thwarting.
Mal ,'Safe'
Natter 63: Life after PuppyCam
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Cashmere - May 27, 2009 8:22:49 pm PDT #21585 of 30000
Now tagless for your comfort.
billytea - May 27, 2009 9:46:28 pm PDT #21586 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
billytea, DH wants to know if there is a species of giant ticks in Australia. I told him you might know.
I think our largest native tick is the ornate kangaroo tick, the female is about 5 mm long before feeding. Not sure if that counts as a giant. The largest tick in the world is the sloth's giant tick; one specimen was found to be the size of a walnut (after feeding). Makes sense, ticks rely on not being detected by their host, so there's a strong selection pressure against getting too big - but sloths aren't exactly the most alert of animals, so if that's your host, you can probably afford to be more obvious about it.
Theodosia - May 28, 2009 1:02:37 am PDT #21587 of 30000
'we all walk this earth feeling we are frauds. The trick is to be grateful and hope the caper doesn't end any time soon"
I wonder if dinosaur-era ticks were bigger.
Nilly - May 28, 2009 1:16:08 am PDT #21588 of 30000
Swouncing
Skipping in order to post that, according to the Buffista Calendar, today is Sean K's birthday.
Happy birthday, Sean! With lots of wishes for a great day and a wonderful year!
Oh, and to anybody who celebrates it, or just enjoys the long weekend we're going to get here in Israel thanks to it, happy shavu'ot!
§ ita § - May 28, 2009 1:37:12 am PDT #21589 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Happy birthday, Sean.
Had a traumatic dream. Up too soon. Hope it wears off and I can go back to sleep.
In the meanwhile, Don't Stop Believin' from Glee.
Seska (the Watcher-in-Training) - May 28, 2009 1:37:57 am PDT #21590 of 30000
"We're all stories, in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?"
Happy shavu'ot, Nilly (and Shir, and anyone else who celebrates it).
Happy birthday, Sean.
General 'has a happy' wishes to everyone else.
(Edited for spelling. I has excuse. Is dyslexic. A word which is hard to spell.)
billytea - May 28, 2009 1:40:42 am PDT #21591 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
I wonder if dinosaur-era ticks were bigger.
The earliest fossil tick dates 90 million years ago (a bird tick, as it happens), so it seems likely dinosaurs didn't have ticks.
§ ita § - May 28, 2009 1:42:38 am PDT #21592 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
What about the tick on the giant sloth?
billytea - May 28, 2009 1:58:58 am PDT #21593 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
What about the tick on the giant sloth?
That's an interesting question. The ground sloths weren't anything like as sluggish as their arboreal relatives, so they're likely to have been more fastidious in their grooming; but that's still a lot of animal to watch over. I don't know if we have fossil ticks from ground sloths (or other giant mammals); I still suspect there'd have been selection pressure capping their size, but it's speculation.
Barb - May 28, 2009 2:07:28 am PDT #21594 of 30000
“Not dead yet!”
Happy Birthday, Sean!
And I love that video for "Don't Stop Believin'"