Bike shares are a common sight on the streets of Cleveland, Portland, New York City, and various European cities, but the transportation trend has been slow to take off in any African metropolises. As City Lab reports, Marrakech, Morocco, is now home to the continent’s first: Medina Bike rolled out 10 docking stations comprising 300 bikes across the city’s center earlier this month.
The program is a collaboration between the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the French bike-sharing company Smoove, and the Moroccan business Estates Vision. The launch of the bike share coincides with the United Nations COP22 climate change conference currently being held in Marrakech. The focus of the event is the realization of the 2015 Paris Agreement between close to 200 nations to limit their use of greenhouse gas-producing fossil fuels. Cars are one of the biggest culprits behind climate change, and the Medina Bike share is meant to offer an earth-friendly transportation alternative.
The program was conceived with the conference in mind: Participants even had a docking station built just for them. But the bikes, along with Morocco’s commitment to responsible energy usage, are there to stay.
One of the most feared and revered snakes on the planet, the king cobra is renowned for its imposing size and deadly bite. But it also has plenty of other unique qualities: a distinctive voice, remarkable nesting habits, and a name that obscures its true identity.
1. THE KING COBRA IS THE LONGEST VENOMOUS SNAKE IN THE WORLD.
This native of south and southeast Asia normally grows to be somewhere between 10 and 13 feet long, but the biggest ever recorded was an individual from modern-day Malaysia living at the London Zoo in the mid-20th century. From end to end, the animal measured 18 feet, 9 inches long.
Despite that common name, king cobras are not classified as true cobras, which belong to the genus Naja. The king cobra is the sole member the genus Ophiophagus; genetic evidence suggests that these big snakes are more closely related to the mambas of sub-Saharan Africa than to true cobras.
Physically, there are many things that set king cobras apart from true ones: Kings have proportionally narrower hoods than Naja species do; Ophiophagus’s head is larger relative to its body size; and at the base of the neck, king cobras have a pair of matching, elongated occipital scales, which are absent in Naja cobras.
3. THEY GROWL.
When threatened, king cobras spread their hoods to make themselves look bigger and raise their heads as high as 6 feet off the ground. But those aren’t the only threatening tools in their arsenal: They also use sound to intimidate. Threatened kings take a deep breath and then rapidly exhale, forcing a burst of air through the tracheal diverticula in their respiratory tract which acts like a resonating chamber, resulting in a sound that one scientist compared to the growl of “an angry German shepherd.” It’s much scarier than your standard issue hiss.
4. THEIR VENOM ATTACKS THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.
Drop for drop, king cobra venom is less potent than that of some smaller snakes, such as Australia’s inland taipan. But when it comes to toxic chemicals, quantity can trump quality: With a single bite, a king cobra can inject as much as 7 milliliters of venom—almost enough to fill 1.5 teaspoons—into its victim.
Different venoms do different things to the human body. Many vipers, for example, have venom that targets the victim’s circulatory system, destroying red blood cells as it spreads. But the venom of a king cobra inhibits communication between nerve cells, which can cause extreme dizziness, blurred vision, and—often—paralysis. Unless the right antivenom is administered quickly, a human bite victim can die within 30 minutes. Their venom is powerful enough that a single bite can kill a 12,000-pound elephant in just three hours.
5. THEY MOSTLY EAT OTHER SNAKES.
Most true cobras have a varied diet that may include lizards, birds, rodents, and fish. But king cobras almost exclusively dine on other serpents, a fact that’s reflected in its genus name: Ophiophagus means “snake-eater.” They’re equal opportunity eaters, devouring harmless rat snakes as well as venomous kraits, various true cobras, and other kings. Not even pythons are safe (although king cobras apparently can’t swallow constrictors that exceed 10 feet in length). King cobras will also eat eggs and the occasional monitor lizard.
6. MALES WRESTLE.
Like many other species of animal, male king cobras fight over females during breeding season. First, the snakes size each other up, raising their heads as high as 4 feet off the ground. Then, they wrestle. Bodies intertwined, the snakes try to pin one another to the ground. (There’s no biting involved—these snakes are largely immune to their own venom.) When one of the participants is finally pinned, he leaves.
7. SCIENTISTS SEQUENCED THE KING COBRA GENOME.
In 2013, an international scientific team sequenced the Ophiophagus genome [PDF], which revealed that the animal’s venom glands can trace their evolutionary origins to the pancreatic system. The team also concluded that the snake’s deadly venom was developed during an eons-long “arms race” with prey items: Over many generations, these would-be victims grew increasingly immune to the snake’s chemical cocktail, so cobra venom evolved to be more and more dangerous as time went by (which is why, despite the fact that the snakes don’t eat elephants, their venom is strong enough to kill one). “Our results,” the scientists wrote in the paper, ” … provide a unique view of the origin and evolution of snake venom.”
8. KING COBRAS ARE MAINLY ACTIVE DURING THE DAY.
While many true cobras are crepuscular, king cobras snakes are diurnal, meaning they’re most active during daytime. After sunset, they take shelter under logs, buttress roots, or termite mounds.
9. THIS IS THE ONLY SPECIES OF SNAKE IN THE WORLD THAT BUILDS NESTS.
Snakes, by human standards, are not model parents: 70 percent of snake species lay eggs, usually in a convenient hole or crevice, and many will abandon their clutches immediately. But the king cobra is an exception. The reptile builds a nest. First, the female gathers leaves, using her coils as a makeshift rake. After she lays 20 to 30 eggs in the middle, she gathers more leaves, layering them over her clutch (the decomposition of the leaves helps keep the eggs warm). The process can take four full days to complete, after which the female curls up on top of the nest for the next two or three months until the eggs begin to hatch. Females don’t eat the entire time they’re guarding the nest and are unusually aggressive, lashing out at pretty much anything that comes too close—but just before the eggs hatch, they take off.
At birth, baby king cobras are just around a foot long and, with alternating black and whitish-yellow bands running the length of their bodies, are more vibrantly-colored than adults. As they grow up, most snakes gradually lose the bands; when fully grown, king cobras have an almost solidly-brown or olive color scheme (though the snakes do have faded yellow bellies). But not every snake goes solid: In Myanmar, adult kings tend to remain banded.
11. THESE SNAKES CAN LIVE TO BE OVER 20 YEARS OLD.
In captivity, the king cobra’s average lifespan is 17.1 years; 22 is the oldest verified age for this species.
12. KING COBRAS ARE GREAT CLIMBERS AND DECENT SWIMMERS.
While kings do most of their hunting on solid ground, they can often be found hanging out in trees and will occasionally stalk their prey high above the forest floor. One individual which had been fitted with a tracking device pursued a pit viper up into the canopy of a south Indian forest, climbing more than 65 feet off the ground in the process [PDF]. And while no one would describe them as semiaquatic snakes, king cobras have been known to swim for short distances.
Deadpool was an undisputed hit with critics and audiences when it premiered in February, earning more than $750 million worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. Now, with awards season upon us, star Ryan Reynolds is looking for even more accolades for his foul-mouthed comic book adaptation.
Along with a screener copy of the movie from 20th Century Fox, Reynolds sent a hilarious letter to critics groups, Writers Guild members, and Academy voters to remind them to think about the Merc With a Mouth’s big screen triumph when making their award choices this year. For Your Consideration letters usually harp on a movie’s emotional impact or filmmaking prowess, but Reynolds filled his note with sarcastic claims like, “Despite countless roadblocks, the incredible team of Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Tim Miller, and I continued onward until somebody at Fox accidentally said ‘Yes’ thinking we were a Maze Runner spinoff.”
This letter taps right into the crass tone that made Deadpool a success in the first place, even including a line about how the movie’s low budget would “barely cover the cocaine costs on most studio films.” Though the movie was an unlikely success, any real award consideration would be even more surprising. But that’s not stopping Fox from pushing for Reynolds to get some Best Actor consideration. You can read the entire letter over at IndieWire.
Even if Reynolds’s award plea falls on deaf ears, fans shouldn’t be too disappointed: Deadpool will be back in a sequel tentatively set for 2018.
Harvard Theatre Collection via Wikimedia // Public Domain
Lately, if you mention clowns, people think of creepy clown sightings or perhaps various political campaigns. But in the mid-1800s, if you said clown and politics in the same sentence, everyone who heard you would think of Dan Rice.
Rice was arguably the most famous entertainer in America in the latter half of the 19th century. Born in New York in 1823, he became a clown, a comedian, an acrobat, a strongman, an animal trainer, a singer, a dancer, an impresario, a political commentator, and an occasional political candidate during his lifetime. He was so famous that some think his trademark look—goatee, striped pants or formal suit with a top hat—may have been one of the models for Uncle Sam’s image (although some evidence also exists to show that Uncle Sam predates Rice).
In Rice’s day, the American circus was in its infancy. In the early 1800s the circus was frequently an animal show, usually centered on equestrian acts. When Rice started in show business in the 1840s, he presented trained animal acts, including “Sybil, the Learned Pig” (also known as Lord Byron) and later his trained horse Excelsior. At one point, he even presented a trained rhinoceros and an elephant who could walk across a tightrope. But Rice also expanded from the basic animal show to add more acrobats and the clowns that we expect in a circus today, helping to give the circus something of its modern form.
As Rice’s circuses became famous, they toured all over the country, by wagon in the East and by boat in the South. When winter came, he moved his shows into cities and indoors into theaters, sometimes drawing thousands. The circus of the 1800s was not for kids, and Rice’s shows were wild and wooly affairs. Performances featured lots of ladies in tight, skimpy clothes and double entendres (or even all-out dirty jokes) flying around the ring. If a fight didn’t break out during a performance or outside of the tent, it was notable. According to legend, the exclamation “Hey, Rube!”—a cry used for decades by circus roustabouts and carnies to call for help whenever a fight broke out—was based on the time a member of Dan Rice’s troupe was caught in a fight in New Orleans and yelled for help to his friend Reuben.
But it was his clowning and commentary that made Rice most famous; to a modern audience, Rice’s act would resemble a stand-up comedy show. He stood in the center ring—at first with one of his animals and later by himself—and emitted a constant stream of comic patter. (Think Robin Williams at his fastest and Jon Stewart at his most political.) He would comment on anything and everything, and exchanged rapid-fire quips with audience members.
As America’s middle class grew and started looking for respectability, Rice gradually began billing his productions more often as shows instead of circuses (by then, circuses were seen as lowbrow entertainment). He also began to call himself “the Great American Humorist.” One of his signature acts was to perform witty parodies of Shakespeare’s plays.
Rice was involved in politics during most of this life, mostly as a commentator, but also sometimes as a candidate. As the Civil War approached, Rice’s political leanings—and his commentary—moved toward the Democrats and away from abolition and the new Republican Party. This was a position that he continued to hold during the war. He ran for the state senate in Pennsylvania as a Democrat in 1864, but lost the election. In 1868, he made a serious run for president, but withdrew from the campaign when he realized that he was unlikely to win. After the Civil War, there were stories that Rice had gone to the White House during the conflict to tell jokes and cheer up Lincoln—but these are probably tales Rice himself spread around.
Rice’s personal fortunes took a variety of twists and turns. He got rich, then lost his money several times over. Later in life, he became an alcoholic and died broke in 1900 in Long Branch, New Jersey. But his memory lives on: The town of Girard, Pennsylvania, where Rice made his home and winter headquarters for many years, still holds Dan Rice Days every summer to honor his legacy.
The mantis shrimp is an interesting creature: It flaunts a whole rainbow of colors, has some of the best working eyes in the animal kingdom, and ruthlessly kills its prey with extreme precision and power. There are over 550 species of the ocean dweller, but of those hundreds, the formidable crustaceans have just two primary methods for maiming their prey: smashing or spearing.
As PBS’s Deep Lookseries explains in the video above, smashers have a strong club, which they use to literally punch animals to death (or bust open a shell). Their tiny boxing glove moves through the water at 50 mph—faster than a .22-caliber bullet. These clobberers also have a simple spear that’s sharp enough to jab their enemies in turf battles, but pro spearers have an advanced harpoon with a serrated blade. They hide in the sand and wait for an unsuspecting fish to pass by so they can leap out and attack before dragging the unsuspecting animal to its death. Yikes.
The mantis shrimp combines this pure power with an incredible sense of sight. While humans have two pupils and three color receptors, the mantis shrimp has six pseudopupils and 12 receptors to better destroy their enemies. As the video explains, “Mantis shrimp can perceive the most elusive attribute of light from the human standpoint: polarization. Polarization refers to the angle that light travels through space. Though it’s invisible to the human eye, many animals see this quality of light, especially underwater.”
This skill is great for more than just killing dinner: The special vision lets mantis shrimp communicate with each other and stake out territory. Scientists have even borrowed this technique to find injuries and even cancer with polarized light. Just another example of how Mother Nature can be both beautiful and terrifying.
Cats love playing with tinsel and tissue paper, but discarded wrapping materials shouldn’t be their only holiday goodies. This season, treat your favorite feline to one of these 11 creative gift ideas.
This DJ Cat Scratching Pad lets your kitty channel its inner disc jockey while giving its claws a workout. It comes with a record-shaped corrugated cardboard pad, which sits atop a mock record player plastered with old-school-inspired band stickers. And if you’re up for a silent jam session with your pet, the cardboard “record” spins, and the record player’s tone arm is posable. (For easy assembly, the Scratching Pad arrives in a flatpack, and comes with instructions detailing how to fold it together sans glue.)
Inside every cat beats the heart of a hunter. If your kitty’s an indoor pet, you can arouse its natural instincts with the Grass Patch Hunting Box. It’s filled with tiny jingle balls, which felines can swat and chase by sticking their paws inside peek-a-boo openings on the box’s top and sides. To give your cat a taste of the great outdoors, the box’s top is covered in faux grass that’s suitable for either scratching or lounging.
This bubbling, flower-shaped water fountain keeps your cat’s water as fresh as a daisy. A water-softening filter is hidden inside the fountain, along with a re-circulating system that keeps clean liquid flowing. Since every cat drinks at a different speed, it comes with three water flow settings.
Cats prefer tuna to Chinese food, but they may want to give these catnip-stuffed fleece fortune cookies a nibble. Each hand-sewn cookie is filled with organic, farm-fresh ‘nip and features a randomly chosen cat-themed fortune. (Example: “Your litter box will always be clean.”) The toys come in sets of four, and arrive inside a Chinese take-out carton.
KitNipBox is a monthly subscription box for cat owners looking to spoil their fuzzy friends on the regular. It sends customers a curated package of healthy cat treats, toys, accessories, and other goodies—and if you own two kitties, you can opt for a multi-cat box that includes even more feline swag. A portion of KitNipBox’s monthly fee is donated to animal welfare organizations, so your purchase also helps less-fortunate cats.
If you’ve ever wondered what your cat does when you’re not around, the Petcube Camera will help solve the mystery. The Wi-Fi-enabled video camera connects with your smartphone via a website or app, letting you check in with your pet when you’re on the go. And if you’re really missing your kitty, a two-way audio feature and an interactive laser toy allow for long-distance bonding sessions.
This lofted, pod-shaped cat bed is crafted from fabric-covered foam, and its reversible liner—sewn from microfiber and sherpa fleece—is machine-washable (perfect for removing cat fur). The bed’s top is also removable, allowing you to transform it into a hammock-shaped lounger. If your pet ends up preferring discarded boxes to beds, you can return the pod and receive a full refund.
Typically, felines don’t like music, as it often features pitches and tempos enjoyed only by humans. However, they might dig Music for Cats, an album created by composer David Teie and a team of animal scientists. According to Teie’s website, the 40-minute CD is “based on feline vocal communication and environmental sounds that pique the interest of cats.” You can purchase a single album for $20; a digital download for $15; or a four-CD version of the album for $25. (It features silence between the songs, so you can play it for your cats for extended periods of time while you’re away.)
Hunting mice is all about the chase. Pounce features an electronic mouse that races around a circular track, providing your cat with a heart-pounding pursuit. Just like a real rodent, the mouse is unpredictable: It twitches, zooms, hides, and changes direction. Pounce is also suitable for all feline ages: The toy offers four speed settings, including high and medium for active cats, and low or variable for older, less-agile ones.
Feline furniture can be stylish, too. This sleek, modern cat tree features a cube cave, two platforms lined with memory foam cushions, and a dangling toy.
Your cats might like playing with these doughnut-shaped, catnip-stuffed toys almost as much as you enjoy eating the real thing. The eco-friendly felt toys are sold in sets of three—chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry—and come with fake “Nutrition Facts” that tell you how many “Meows of Fun” and “Total Purrs” are in every bite.
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17 Iconic Movie Scenes That Were Actually Improvised. Trusting the input of talented people can make magic happen.
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These Might Be the Strangest Ice Cream Flavors Ever. Scoops ice cream shop is thinking outside of the icebox.
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The Harry Potter Movie Series That Could Have Been. Early ideas that were scrapped would have made the movies very different.
* Hayao Miyazaki comes out of retirement to make a new feature film. The 12-minute short Boro the Caterpillar should be a full-length movie by 2019.
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Living with Coyotes in New York City. They could have been relocated, but were killed instead.
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10 Historical Words That Don’t Mean What You Think. Or at least they didn’t mean that when they were first coined.
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How America’s elections are ruining America. Twenty-two months of campaigning burned us all out.
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Messing with Mother Nature: 5 Cautionary Tales. The unintended consequences of human intervention can wreck the delicate balance of nature.
Winter is coming—and with it, the Blu-ray and DVD release of Game of Thrones: The Complete Sixth Season. The box sets were officially released yesterday, and to mark the occasion, HBO is hosting an upcoming series of interactive Game of Thrones-themed events in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
Game of Thrones: Season 6—Behind the Scenes will swing by Astor Place in New York City on Friday, November 18, and Saturday, November 19. Next week, it will travel to Chicago’s Grant Park, and in December it will arrive at Hollywood & Highland in Los Angeles.
The promotional event will offer five different fan experiences, each pegged to a single bonus feature included on the new Blu-ray and DVD sets. Fans can hone their battle skills in a virtual reality “Battle Training” in Castle Black’s courtyard; step inside memorable scenes from the show, like “The Battle of the Bastards” and “Hold the Door”; stand inside a burning of the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen, courtesy of green screen technology; get a behind-the-scenes look at how the show’s visual effects are created; and view an assortment of Game of Thrones costumes and props (yes, you can even sit on the Iron Throne).
You can pre-register for Game of Thrones: Season 6 – Behind the Scenes by visiting GoTBehindtheScenes.com. If you purchased Season 6 on Blu-ray or DVD, you can bring the box set with you and gain early access.
Composer James Plakovic’s scores aren’t just created to sound beautiful; on paper, they also take the shape of people, symbols, objects, or in some cases, world maps. His “World Beat Music,” spotted by Boing Boing, is a score that looks like a Mercator Projection map of the world. “What if you could make the world more harmonious through music,” Plakovic asks in the video above. “How would it sound?” Take a listen to the aural cartography and find out for yourself.
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