The History of Halloween - A Harvest Day Special

Alright everyone! Last week, as you might recall, my family and I moved from New York all the way to Utah, so during that week I didn't have much time to get a whole lot of writing done and therefore couldn't write the “movie updates” I like to write. This week was much less busy and so I got to write them, and there are A LOT of updates. Without further ado, let's get started!

It is: Harvest Day! (Aka Halloween, aka "Free Candy Night" in actress Cozi Zuehlsdorff's own words)

It is: 28 days till Thanksgiving

It is: 58 days till Christmas

It is: 65 days till New Years

Now it's time for movie updates! Anyone who's been following this blog for a while now will know I've been giving updates for several movies: Dolphin Tale 2, Jurassic World (formally Jurassic Park IV), The Good Dinosaur, Finding Dory and Inside Out just to name a few.

To my knowledge, there hasn't been any news for The Good Dinosaur, Inside Out and Finding Dory, but while Dolphin Tale 2 hasn't revealed many updates lately, there are many photos they've put on the internet that were taken during production (they're filming in Florida at the moment). Here are some photos I've found:

Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Winter, Hope and a few trainers at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Nathan Gamble (left) and Cozi Zuehlsdorff (right) at Clearwater Marine Aquarium on the Dolphin Tale 2 set

Notice in the previous paragraph, I did say “many updates”. The people making Dolphin Tale 2 have released an update I have yet to mention – alongside the returning cast from the first movie (Nathan Gamble, Cozi Zuehlsdorff, Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Winter and etc) and Hope the dolphin, we'll also see the cameo appearance of a well-known disabled person. Being a human, she didn't loose her tail like Winter did, but she lost something that's worth much to a human being – her left arm. Pro-surfer Bethany Hamilton, (who was portrayed in the movie based on her story called Soul Surfer by Annasophia Robb) is going to be in the movie! She lost her left arm in a shark attack when she was only 13 years old. This girl is now married and will appear alongside Winter. Cool!

Bethany Hamilton swimming with a dolphin at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.

Jurassic World wasn't releasing news for a while . . . and then what happens? They quite literally dump, and I mean dump, tons of updates on us! Isn't it great? So what's new with Jurassic World? No news on plots, characters or what dinosaurs will be appearing, but the people working on the movie (Universal Studios) has finally revealed some of the cast members for the film. So, who was chosen to be “wrangling” (or more appropriately: “running from”) dinosaurs in Jurassic World along with Bryce Dallas Howard? Well, earlier this month, the studio revealed that their second confirmed actor for Jurassic World is a kid-actor by the name of Ty Simpkins. He may be only 12, but he's already been in several popular movies such as Pride and Glory, Revolutionary Road and Iron Man 3 (don't ask me for my opinion on these films, because I haven't seen any of these three). And as if this news wasn't enough, a few days later we got another confirmed cast member: say hello to Nick Robinson! In the film, he's going to be portrayed Ty Simpkin's brother. Although what characters will be in the film is unknown, fans of the Jurassic series are quick to get speculative. Other rumored cast members for the film are Josh Brolin, David Oyelowo and Jake Johnson is being considered for a role.

Ty Simkins will appear in Jurassic World.

But that's not it! There's also been talk about the possibility of returning characters; Jeff Goldblum, who portrayed the chaoticianist Ian Malcolm, might reprise his role. Laura Dern, who plays Ellie Sattler, is also a potential candidate for a reprise. But due to a recent interview with this actress, this might be unlikely. I'll post more news on the upcoming Jurassic World when it comes up!

Now it's time for my latest article. Since today is Harvest Day (more often called “Halloween”), I've decided to rerun an article I did last year. The article has some slight grammatical and information changes, but the message and overall topic is still the same. Please enjoy:

Many are very excited this time of year. Not about Christmas or Thanksgiving, but another “holiday” coming much sooner than that: Halloween! Stores all over the country make millions (if not billions) of dollars every year on Halloween decorations and costumes, the only holiday that makes more money is Christmas. Now only do they make money on costumes and decorations, but they also make money on candy, tons and tons of candy. They also have those creepy tours through those supposedly “haunted houses”. “The gorier the better” seems to be today’s slogan of Halloween. Over the years, costumes and decorations have become creepier and gorier. On my Dad’s way to work, he passes a house with at least . . . say, 20-40 decorations (I’m not exaggerating) ranging from eerie skeletons that appear to be rising out of the ground to a GIANT inflatable black cat, to an inflatable horse and headless rider (the rider is carrying his head under his arm). One of those big inflatable cats can be worth $40 by itself, and they have a bunch of things like that in their yard, so they probably have well over $100 of decorations in their yard.

Here are several people attending a Halloween-themed event.

Now, being a born again Christian, my family and I don’t celebrate Halloween. Some Christians do celebrate Halloween, but I really don’t condone it. When we talk something positive about this day, we call it “Harvest Day”. Should Christians really be celebrating this holiday? What is a Christian to do on October 31^st? Well, that is what this post wishes to tackle. So please continue reading to learn more about this holiday you never knew (by the way, Halloween is not an official holiday, contrary to popular belief).

I firmly believe that in order to address and tackle an enemy, we must know something about it. The same applies to evil “holidays”. So let’s take a look at its history and see how not harmless some of those Halloween traditions are.

Now where did Halloween begin? Well, there are many ancient cultures that have days very similar to Halloween. These cultures range from Ireland to Mexico (the Mexican version of Halloween is called, “The Day of the Dead”). Now if there were only a few places around the world that have Halloween-like events, then it would be considered “coincidental”, but with so many different cultures around the world celebrating Halloween-like “holidays”, it’s unlikely that they all just coincidentally are similar, no, it’s way older than you think!

Some tell you that Halloween-cultures started a few thousand years ago, but really, the world’s human population was already spread apart by that time, so it is more likely that its origins are older than that. They probably route back to a time when the world’s human population was in one location. And there’s one and only one time after the Flood when the world population was together – right after Noah’s Flood and before Babel, around 4,300 years ago! That’s old! How can we even assume that? Well, the Flood of Noah killed a whole lot of people. Only eight people survived – Noah, his wife, his sons and their wives. From them, the human population came, including everyone on the planet today. Now considering Noah and his family probably lost a lot of relatives who failed to listen to God’s warning, they must have been a little sad. Perhaps the people living right after the Flood made a special event to remember those souls lost in the waters (of course this is just speculation since the Bible says nothing about this “remembrance day”). Another theory deals with Noah’s wife. Noah’s wife isn’t mentioned in the Bible a little while after the Flood. We don’t know for sure, but perhaps this is because she died soon after the Flood. We know in that portion of the Bible that people lived hundreds of years at a time, so Noah’s generation (which at this time only would have consisted of him and his wife) would have lived to see their children grow up to have children of their own, and have grandchildren and great grandchildren and great, great grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren and so forth. So it could be that after having many great, great, great . . . grandchildren, Noah’s wife died and her grandkiddies held a special “remembrance day” for this woman.

We may never know exactly where this “holiday” began, but either way, after leaving the Tower of Babel as described in Genesis, people would have taken the “remembrance day” culture with them as they traveled the globe, but as they did so, they did some tweaking to this day as we’ll see in a minute.

Flashing to the bit more recent time of more than 2,000 years ago, the Druids, or Celtic people of Ireland, Great Britain, France had morphed this “holiday” a lot. These people had elaborate and religious pagan festivals, one of the most important was the Fire Festival called Samhain (it’s pronounced sow-en, nothing at all like it’s spelled, is it?) that was observed in harvest time. Now the Celtic people had a lot of strange beliefs, one of which was that on this particular night, the barrier between natural world and the supernatural world was removed and the spirits of the dead can roam among us in the form of ghosts. This event was nowhere near as “fun and lighthearted” as today’s Halloween, but this is where the “spooky version” of it originated.

These folks have a serious case of "Halloween-gydus"

Halloween wasn’t all paganized though. Actually, early Christians made their own “Halloween” day . . . sort of. The customs of this day were Christianized in 835 A.D. when Pope Gregory IV decided to dedicate a day to the believers who had died. This day was called “Feast of All Saints” and was originally in the spring but was moved to November 1^st to replace Samhain. The day before “Feast of All Saints” was called “All Hallow’s Eve” and was a sacred vigil in church. Apparently, “All Hallow’s Eve” was too long for most, so it was shortened to “Hallow’s Eve”, then to “Hallow’en” and today most of us just write (or type in my case) “Halloween”. So we have two “holidays” that are somewhat similar: Samhain, a 100% pagan thing and “All Hallow’s Eve”, a Christian-type remembrance. Which one do you think is the one that stuck around?

If you guessed Samhain, you’re wrong! Today’s Halloween is a mixture of Samhain AND “All Hallow’s Eve”. But there’s more to the story than that. The knocking on door thing was started in the British Isles where people in masks would go from door to door putting on a simple performance to earn (what else?) food and drink! Many times these shows had Christian themes. (Keep in mind I did say, “many times”. Some of these people would simply go up and ask for something and then if they got it they’d bless the house, if they didn’t they’d curse the house) So how did we get from putting on a show to earn food to simply knocking on a door and yelling, “Trick or treat!”?

Well that story started back when Irish and Scottish folks brought Halloween customs to America in the 19^th century (Halloweens much more complex than you thought, isn’t it?). On Halloween night, “some” vandals (a lot, actually) started doing “cute” pranks and mischief. These folks did things like soap windows, tipping outhouses and yanking doors off their hinges (doesn’t sound very “cute” to me!). These were said to have been the work of mischievous ghosts, goblins and witches. When we reached the 1920’s though, these jokes weren’t very humorous at all! This is why Halloween is the policeman’s least favorite day of the year, they have to always stay on their toes! The vandalism was getting worse. So community clubs such as Boy Scouts decided to help the situation. They decided it would be a good idea to have children going from door to door and yell, “Trick or Treat!” as soon as the door was opened. This would keep those vandals away. It didn’t take long to catch on, by the 1930’s it was a popular Halloween activity. So this type of Halloween wasn’t bad. It was fun, playful, and entertaining. It wasn’t bad at all . . . yet!

As we all have noticed over the years, costumes get more and more gory and horrific. And the Samhain part of Halloween has started to come out. Ghosts, goblins and witches (along with their witch craft) is creeping out and haunting like they did 2,000 years ago. However, unlike the legend, they don’t really haunt the earth, except in the form of imaginations. Today’s Halloween, a “holiday” initially supposed to be a Christian day, is a day filled with spooky, creepy paganism that deals with the souls of those who’ve died. Now you know exactly how bad Halloween really is and why my family doesn’t celebrate!

Some of you might be asking yourselves, “What’s so bad about witchcraft?” (Supposed ghost encounters is a whole other topic, I’ll talk about that later). Think my talk on this subject is cheap? Well, God’s talk is definitely not cheap! God Himself speaks against paganism and witchcraft in the books of the Law (the first five books of the Bible). Yes, witches are also not new, they were around 3,000 years ago, about the time of Moses. . . . So as you can see, God warned us not to follow paganism, as harmless as it seems, it has a much, much deeper meaning to it. It’s all in Satan’s evil plot to get people away from God. As I’ve expressed in previous posts, Satan is very real indeed! There is a Heaven and Hell.

A lot of people don’t know this, but Satan is really an expelled angel who used to live with God. In the book of Ezekiel, we read that his voice was like that of a beautiful instrument. However, when Satan got prideful, he was banished. Believe me, Satan is no joke, he’s got lots of power. However, being his Creator, God has even MORE power. Satan really wants to lure people away from God and Halloween is just one of those times he uses to do this, in the form of “harmless” witchcraft, fake devils (by the way, Satan doesn’t have horns, a pointy tail and pitchfork either), ghosts, goblins and skeletons. Even things that really aren’t bad are used a lot on this day, such as black cats, bats, spiders and crows. None of these animals are bad at all. So seriously, what’s a Christian to do on this evil “holiday”?

Talk about creepy!

Well, there’s lots to do! First of all, one option is to pray for all those poor lost souls engaged in this paganism. Another thing you can do is along with your candy, give out Bible tracks. Kids will take just about anything if there’s candy involved. If you don’t feel like the whole “trick-or-treaters” thing (or even if you do), you can go to your church and help out with your church’s Halloween, or rather, “Harvest Day” event. If your church doesn’t have this event planned, you should inquire about it (and if it’s too close to the date, simply suggest it for next year). Beware, Satan is out to stop all lost souls from God’s Holy Word. But together, and with God’s help, we can use this pagan “holiday” to reach more lost souls and lead them to God by telling them about Jesus’ message of salvation!

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the new in the news? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

PS 5: I don't own some and/or any of the images in this post. If you own one of them and would like it removed, please notify me.

The Whistling Wind

Hello everyone! Time is flying and the holiday season is rapidly approaching. I have BIG news to share: my family and I have moved from New York all the way to Utah! No, we didn't fly - we drove more than 2,000 miles across the continent (with my pet cat!). Let me tell you, never and I do mean never try to drive a long distance with a cat unless she's a good traveler. Our cat is a good traveler, fortunately for us! I might go into more detail about the move later. Since I've been so busy lately, I didn't have time to write the updates for the movies I've been revealing information about so after the "days till" section, I'll go straight to Joy's article for this week.

It is: 7 days till Harvest Day
It is: 34 days till Thanksgiving
It is: 62 days till Christmas

Here's Joy's article for this week:

My favorite kind of weather is sunny with a gentle breeze. I love how the wind blows through my hair and you can hear the rustle of the leaves in the trees. You can feel the wind, you may even hear it, but it's impossible to actually see it. You think you may see it but you only see its effects.
The wind is one of God's wonders but it can also cause nature's greatest disasters. Tornadoes, hurricanes, and strong winds provide many devastating effects. The wind is that soft breeze that gives you relief on a hot sunny day or maybe a gentle breeze as the leaves slowly fade away. The wind can also create catastrophes or artwork.

Though quite invisible, we can easily see the effects of blowing winds; this tree is definitely feeling a bit "winded" (pun intended!).

Wind carrying up sand or other minerals can cause a natural disaster with rocks, shaping them in an unfamiliar way. Plants use the wind to carry off their seed to migrate. The wind can push against a sail and help power your boat or be used as a natural energy source. The wind can carry on miles at a time. It helps move the clouds across the sky and helps circulate the air we breath in.

The Arbol de Piedra (aka Stone Tree) in Bolovia was carved by thousands of years of blowing wind.

Did you know that the wind carries sound too? Wind can either travel or block sounds depending on which way your facing. The wind is just one of infinite wonders here in this universe. What so you think is interesting in this universe we call home?

Like I said, sorry that today's post was rather short, but I've been sort of busy this week. Next week, I'll post updates on the movies I've been giving updates on (Lord-willing, of course!), and there have been a lot of updates lately! See you next week!

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the latest scoop? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

Night of the Tarantula

Hello guys! Welcome back to my website. As usual, we'll run through updates before getting to the nonfiction article I wrote for today . . .

The seasons are changing quickly. In just a few days, we'll be celebrating Harvest Day, which many people like to refer to as Halloween. As a Christian, I don't celebrate Halloween. Instead, I celebrate Harvest Day. You can read why Christians shouldn't celebrate this holiday and it's roots in sinister ancient cultures in an article I wrote last year by clicking this link. In the meantime though, here's how close we are to some of our favorite holidays:

• It is: 13 days till Harvest Day
• It is: 41 days till Thanksgiving
• It is: 69 days till Christmas

Spiders . . . these creepy crawlies scare the jitters out of many. It's mainly the smaller ones that give people the creeps, but spiders actually come in a wide range of sizes. There are three suborders of spiders within the order Araneae, which consists of over 40,000 different living species! The suborder that contains the largest spiders is called Mygalomorphae. And within this group are the famous tarantulas! Being the largest spiders, tarantulas have a reputation for being monsters, but let's take a look at the facts about tarantulas and learn more about these amazing animals God made.

Mexican Tarantula - safe to hold unless frightened.

Being a creature that crawls over the earth, God made the tarantula on Day 6 along with the other land animals and man. Originally, before the Fall of Man, spiders were vegetarian as it explains in the book of Genesis in the Bible. After the Fall, as we all know, most spiders took to a carnivorous diet (but a recently discovered species actually is an herbivore!). Spiders are quite common in the fossil record dating back to when the waters of Noah's Flood covered the earth. Some were preserved as fossil remains, while others were preserved in hardened tree sap called amber. The spider got caught in the sap while it was still gooey and it became fossilized just like a dinosaur bone, preserving the creature inside. The cool thing about spiders preserved in amber is that it looks exactly like it did in life!

This spider is forever locked in crystal-clear, fossilized amber.

The largest species of tarantula (and also the largest species of spider) is the Goliath bird-eating spider (but it ranks second for the title of “largest spider” in terms of length – the giant huntsman spider is longer, but has less girth). It can leg-span of 12 inches and weighs 5.3 ounces; males are longer but the females have more bulk, so basically, the female is larger. Tarantulas also live in a wide range of locations and habitats – many species can be found in southwest North America and throughout Central and South America; Goliath bird-eaters live in Central and South America. But other species can be found elsewhere too, such as Africa, a majority of Asia, Australia, and parts of Europe. Basically, they can be found everywhere except Antarctica. Their habitats are varied too. Tarantulas can be found from the hot steamy jungles, mountains and cloud forests to hot, dry grasslands, savannas and deserts. One of my favorite tarantula species is a close relative of the goliath bird-eater and called the Mexican red-knee tarantula. They get their name from the reddish-orange bands on the joints of their legs. Also as their name suggests, they can be found in Mexico, but they're also native to the southwest portion of the United States.

The Goliath bird-eating spider is the largest tarantula of all!

If you're ever looking for tarantulas, (which is doubtful if you have arachnophobia – the fear of spiders!) your best bet would be to look for them at night since they're nocturnal. Unlike most spiders that make webs to catch their prey on, tarantulas live in burrows that they sleep in during the day. At night, they are alert, waiting for prey to stop by for dinner. Tarantulas normally eat insects and other small invertebrates, but rodents, frogs, lizards and other small animals aren't out of the question. As its name suggests, Goliath bird-eaters will occasionally snag a small bird if they can. When keeping tarantulas for pets, it's important to have one per cage. Why? Well, tarantulas are known to be cannibalistic, that's why! The only unproblematic occasion where you can keep two tarantulas in the same cage is for breeding purposes (as long as you separate them soon after mating has taken place!).

The Mexican red-kneed tarantula (one of my favorites) gets its name from the reddish bands on its knees.

Of course, no matter what you want to eat, you have to catch it first! Just because they don't spin webs doesn't mean tarantulas don't have working spinnerets. Instead of using silk for spinning webs, tarantulas line their burrows with silk that acts like trip lines. That way, whenever one of their prey items walks by the burrow, the tarantula – which rests its feet on the other end of the trip lines – feels the vibration of its prey and launches and attack! It sinks its fangs into the prey, ejecting special enzymes that paralyze and turn the prey's insides into a mushy substance for the spider to drink up. Despite being larger than other spiders, tarantulas aren't nearly as dangerous – their venom is actually about more or less as potent as a bee sting and, unless the individual is allergic, is not deadly to humans.

This is a failed attempt to breed tarantulas -- the male met an untimely demise thanks to his potential mate's hunger!

Tarantulas are predatory, but they're also a great potential meal for loads of other animals such as the coati. These small (but large to the tarantula) raccoon-like animals live in Central and South America and like raccoons, have banded tails and nimble fingers. Since their bite isn't very dangerous to anything other than their prey, God gave the tarantula a better defense against these wily mammals! When threatened, the tarantula will turn away from the predator, but not to run away; it rubs its legs against its hairy abdomen and flings loads of hair onto the aggressor. Not too bad . . . right? WRONG! The hairs of the tarantula may be small, but they're very irritating depending on the species. Some such as the Chilean rose tarantula and pink toe tarantula are rather mild, Brazilian giant white knee tarantula are a bit worse, but those of the Goliath bird-eater is extremely irritating! How irritating? The hairs of the Goliath bird-eating spider leave painful rashes and people have compared them to the wounds you might get from sharp shards of fiberglass! OUCH!

"Stay away from me!" This is what a tarantula does when it wants to be left alone . . . and most people with arachnophobia read the sign and quickly obey!

Tarantulas aren't nearly as scary as you first thought right? Well, so long as you don't frighten a Goliath bird-eating spider so it throws its hairs at you! But just like any animals, whenever a tarantula or other type of spider bites (or shoots hair) at a person, it isn't because it's being evil – it's merely defending itself. So instead of viewing tarantulas as evil, sinister, eight-legged creeps with extremely potent venom that's enough to kill a person (which, as we just discussed, is mythical), we should view tarantulas and other spiders as beautiful creatures that God made with the ability to find food, live in its environment and keep predators at bay. Tarantulas really are cool spiders!

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the new in the news? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

Nightmares of the Deep

This month of fall is rolling by already! We're almost halfway through this month and I think we all know what that means: our favorite holidays are only a short way away:

• It is: 18 days till Harvest Day (or “Free-Candy Night”, in actress Cozi Zuehlsdorff's words)
• It is: 49 days till Thanksgiving
• It is: 75 days till Christmas

Pumpkins are going to be selling really well soon . . .!

As you'll recall from last week's post, I have decided to write articles similar to the ones that I wrote when I first started this website. So here's my article for this week:

Dolphins, whales, sharks, sea lions and gulls – that's what normally comes to mind when you think about the ocean. The ocean covers over 70% of our planet, yet we know more about the surface of the moon! As we all know, the ocean is quite deep (duh, right?), but the ocean wasn't always like this. The ocean originally was relatively shallow when God first created it around 6,000 years ago (that's 4,000 BC). The ocean was formed on the third day of the Creation week when God Himself made dry land appear and gathered it into one place as the Bible says. Many creationists believe that the earth was one continent when originally created, called Rodinia and it was surrounded by shallow oceans. But it didn't stay shallow.

The ocean is the largest body of water on earth!

During Noah's Flood, 4,350 years ago (2,350 BC), the sea floor cracked in many places due to the enormous amount of volcanic activity and made the ocean deeper. When the ocean calmed down, the huge trenches were left that extend downward to the bottom of the sea. In the dark depths of the ocean, many of the unique and bizarre creatures God made on Day 5 of the Creation week thrive to this day. God made them perfectly able to cope with living at such great depths. The deepest part of the ocean is the bottom of Mariana Trench. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, Mariana Trench is one of many trenches, but as I mentioned before, it's the deepest at an astounding 36,000 feet deep! (Many wonder where the water from Noah's Flood ended up; the answer is that it's still here – the ocean is deeper than before the Flood and therefore holds more water). Yet, even at these depths, life not only survives – it thrives! Some major problems that life faces at such great depths in oceanic trenches (including Mariana Trench) include intense water pressure (which increases by about one atmosphere every 30 feet), lack of light, and overwhelming heat and/or chill. God made all deep-sea creatures with the adaptations to live under these tough conditions. Let's look at just a few of the amazing creatures God made that live in the depths of the sea!

The Mariana Trench is the deepest point on the planet. It overshadows Mount Everest in height.

Goblin Shark

 

This is a model of the goblin shark.

The goblin shark's range.

Found at depths of 890-3,150 feet (sometimes as deep as 4,300 feet), the goblin shark is the shallowest-existing creature we're going to look at today. At first glance, it doesn't look much like a shark at all! Goblin sharks can grow about 10-13 or more feet in length. All sharks have a “sixth sense” to help them locate prey called a Lorenzini, which detects the electrical fields produced by other living things (including humans), but goblin sharks have theirs in their elongated, blade-shaped snouts. A shark's Lorenzini is also helpful in knowing what other living things might be in the water. This is why a shark doesn't have to see or even smell its prey to know it's around. The goblin shark's Lorenzini comes in handy when blue sharks are around because they might prey on goblin sharks. The sense of sight in this shark is quite poor, so it normally uses its Lorenzini and sense of smell instead, not that it could see much anyway due to the darkness of the water it lives in! Goblin sharks are ambush predators since they aren't fast enough to chase down their prey. Its favorite prey consists of dragonfish and rattails, but they've also been known to consume cephalopods, other crustaceans and squid. God also gave this shark another cool feature – an extendable jaw! When it approaches prey, its jaws quickly open-up wide and it sucks its prey in. Not much is known about this shark due to the fact that it doesn't do well in captivity and lives so far in the depths of the ocean. But if you think this creature is weird, check out the next one!

This is the head of a goblin shark (live goblin sharks don't look like this).

Gulper Eel

The gulper eel's large mouth is actually used to eat small prey.

As the first part of its name suggests, this creature has a BIG mouth; but unlike the last part of its name suggests, it's not an eel (go figure!). I hope you're into surprises, because the gulper eel has many other strange features that might surprise you. There are many different species of gulper eels, but we're going to talk about one species, the Eurypharynx pelecanoides. Like all the creatures on this list, it lives deep in the ocean, at around 1,600-9,800 feet, they don't meet goblin sharks too often, or humans for that matter. Most of what we know about this and many deep-sea creatures is from observations made from creatures brought to the surface accidentally by deep-sea fishing nets. Because light doesn't penetrate so well at this depth, the fish doesn't need to see much, so its eyes located at the end of its snout (not near the neck as with most creatures – surprise!). This creature is also one of the largest ones I'm going to talk about – at three feet in length, it's longer than many kids are tall (other species grew up to six feet). Considering its humongous mouth (which is larger than its body, by the way), what do you think it eats? Well, surprisingly, its diet consists mainly of small crustaceans (surprise!). However, the gulper eel also eats small squid, other small invertebrates and  some species even eat plankton. Despite its huge jaws, its teeth are actually quite tiny. After catching its food, the hapless creatures are kept in the fish's pelican-like pouch (hence its other name, the pelican eel).

Giant Tube Worm

Giant tube worms can be found more than 5,000 feet down in the ocean!

No, the tube worm is not a giant worm like the ones you might use for fish-bait. Giant tube worms live in a unique ecosystem with a total absence of light (until scientists started exploring the depths and used flashlights to see). Just about every other form of life is dependent on sunlight, but not where tube worms live! Though they're called worms, they aren't actually worms. Instead, they're more plant-like than most animals and grow eight feet long. Other animals living with tube worms are crabs and shrimp. What sustains this ecosystem at the very bottom of the sea? Instead of energy from the sun, life where tube worms grow comes from volcanic hydrothermal vents. Colonies of tube worms, crabs and shrimp cluster around these hot volcanic vents which make the water around them boil! Yes, tube worms live in boiling water 24/7! No wonder scientists were shocked to find life in these conditions. These vents are more than 5,000 feet below the ocean surface and when water seeps through them, it's full of chemicals and minerals. This type of environment is toxic to most forms of life. But God designed life to thrive even here. Since tube worms are pretty stationary, God created them with bacteria that live inside their bodies to provide them with food. These are obviously not the same bacteria that make us get sick! Instead, they turn the chemicals from the hydrothermal vents into organic material that the tube worms “eat”. Relationships in nature like this are called symbiotic relationships. Crabs and shrimps meanwhile get their food by nibbling on the giant tube worm's red plumes. God really created life to thrive, even here in the hot depths of the sea!

This volcanic vent is found at the bottom of the sea.

Viperfish

 

Viperfish are as feisty as their name suggests!

The feisty-looking viperfish is another deep-sea monster with a terrifying appearance (don't think it has the name viperfish for nothing!). These fish can be found 250-5,000 feet below sea level and gets its name because it really is one of the most vicious predators in the sea's depths. As with the other animals on our list, there different species of viperfish, but the one we're mainly going to talk about today is called Chauliodus sloani, unless I mention otherwise. This species can grow to be about a foot long and unlike the gulper eel, it uses its big mouth for BIG prey! But before it eats, it has to catch its food. In order to attract its prey, the viperfish uses a light-producing organ located on its dorsal spine that can flash on and off. Smaller prey is attracted to the light and comes within reach of the deadly viperfish's jaws! The sharp teeth of the viperfish are used, as expected, to catch and puncture prey which includes crustaceans and smaller fish. In fact, this animal's teeth are so long, that they don't even fit inside the mouth! Instead, they curve backward toward the creature's eye. These deep-sea animals get creepier and creepier don't they? Just wait till you learn about our last creature!

The gnarly head of a viperfish.

Anglerfish

The anglerfish is a real tyrant of the deep to its prey!

The terrifying-looking anglerfish made an appearance in the 2002 movie Finding Nemo. There are several different species of anglerfish, and not all of them live in deep water. Many live in shallow water and are sort of the “frog's of the sea” – they're colorful to camouflage the colorful habitat they live in. The ones we're going to look at are obviously deep-sea anglerfish, or black seadevil (Melanocetus johnsonii) which lives 3,000-9,000 feet below the surface of the ocean. Don't let its small size of seven inches (or three feet in other deep-sea anglerfish species) fool you – angler fish are terrors to other creatures of the deep! Much like the viperfish, anglerfish go after relatively large menu options, mostly other fish. To catch their prey, God made these fish with a special appendage on their heads that produces light through a chemical process called bioluminescence. Many other fish also produce light on their bodies via bioluminescence that is produced by bacteria that entered the fish's body through an external duct (another example of a symbiotic relationship). It waves it little light in the darkness of the deep until unsuspecting fish swim up to investigate and SNAP! The fish's fate is sealed in the anglerfish's jaws. The fish can't even try to escape because the anlgerfish's teeth are pointed inward when the mouth is closed. If the anglerfish finds something to eat that's bigger than its own body, it's still not a problem because it has an expandable stomach and extendable jaws – that way it can eat things twice its own size. Did you know that the anglerfish in Finding Nemo is a female? As a matter of fact, probably all the anglerfish you've seen in pictures are female! How do I know? Well, male anglerfish look extremely different from the females – they're so different in fact, that at first, scientists thought they were a totally different species! While female anglerfish have the gnarly, fang-like teeth, huge jaws and the bioluminescent lure on their heads, males (which are only an inch long) are plain in appearance – they have a no bioluminescent light, no huge jaws, no long teeth and tiny fins. In fact, they look a bit like a mutant tadpole before it grows legs! The differences between male and female animals is called sexual dimorphism. The male anglerfish has only one quest in life once it reaches adulthood: mate with a female. Because of this fish's strange way of reproducing, you wouldn't find a bachelor anglerfish male . . . alive anyway. When they mature, the male anglerfish's digestive system deteriorates, so it can't eat. The only way for the male to survive is by finding a mate. After locating the more menacing female anglerfish, the male bites onto the female and enzymes from his body mushes the skin of his mouth into the female's body and they become one flesh . . . literally! Now he's practically a part of the female's body, getting nourishment from his mate that happens to be much bigger than he is. This may seem like a strange way to reproduce, but God the anglerfish wouldn't meet another anglerfish very often, so by attaching to her body, the female has a mate handy whenever she's ready to spawn. There can be six males attached to the females body at one time; this is how the males spend the rest of their lives – attached to their mate. Talk about a bizarre mating (or lack of mating) ritual!

Each of the bizarre fish I mentioned above are just a few of the many God created to live in the depths of the sea. God provided every one of them with their own special way to feed, avoid predators and reproduce. They don't only survive, they thrive in the dark depths of the sea.

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the latest scoop? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.

The Sound of Nature

Once again, autumn is upon us! It recently occurred to me that this blog has been up and running for over a year! So praise the Lord for that! The time sure has flown. Since it's now October, that means the holiday season is swiftly approaching! Soon, Harvest Day (Halloween), Thanksgiving and Christmas will soon be upon us. As this time comes near, I'd like to make this website have a type of homey feeling to it, so over the next couple months, I'm going to publish articles similar to the ones we've done when I first started this website. I encourage you to look back at some previous articles I've written and check them out . . . after reading today's of course! Let's start with updates.

Since October is here, we can finally start our HOLIDAY COUNTDOWN!!! Here's the line up for the major holidays coming up:

Harvest Day: 28 days away

Thanksgiving: 59 days away

Christmas: 82 days away

I can't wait for these days to come!

Our last update for a certain movie known as Jurassic World was about the recent pseudo-trailer for the movie which reallyturned out to not really be for the new version of the movie after all. This week folks, we finally have some really cool news: our first cast member for the film has just been announced! A rumor floating around is that the actress Bryce Dallas Howard, is going to be portraying a lead role in Jurassic World. Last week, this was just confirmed! We don't know the name of the character she'll be portraying, but if she can run from terrifying dinosaurs as well as she looks, we'll be rooting not only for the dinosaurs, but the film's characters as well.

Bryce Dallas Howard is going to appear in Jurassic World!!!

Without further ado, Joy's nonfiction article for this week:

The Sound of Music . . . and I'm not talking about the movie! There is so much of this world that has been discovered from the tiniest particles to the tallest mountains. Name three or four things that are invisible but you that their there through your other senses. I bet you wouldn't have named this: infrasound. Now your probably wondering what in the world is infrasound. Well, infrasound is a sound frequency below 20 hertz. Which means it's a sound that can be seen and is barely heard with the human ear. However, your body can feel it and may react to it, such as getting dizzy, nausea, or have headaches. Do you want a type of example of an infrasound?

This is an infrasound recording.

Believe it or not, nature really does have a song of its own, you just can't hear it . . . unless you have some type of high-tech machine. Sound is powerful just like it's told in class, let your voice be heard. Tiger and lion roars have been known to temporally stun their prey. Scientists can predict tornadoes several minutes before it touches down because of its infrasound. Sometimes you have this feeling of a sense of dread before a thunderstorm occurs or and avelanche. With this knowledge, people maybe able to save lives in the future by detecting infrasound waves of occurring disasters.

We all know that the mighty roar of a tiger means it's time to start running the opposite direction!

Humpback whales can call each other from 100 miles away; talk about international cellphone coverage! The Sumatran rhinoceros carry on a constant infrasonic “song” when they were originally thought to be quiet and solitary. Unfortunately, these sounds rarely be heard with the human ear. It just shows that nature really does have a song of its own. Did you know that on February 15, 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteor exploded over southern Russia and that its sound waves circled around the world several times and lasted more than a day! It was the loudest sound ever recorded, unfortunately it was an infrasound so we couldn't hear it, but maybe we had some type of response to it? Although we can't hear it, our mind can sense it. This goes to show that sound is everywhere, perhaps if you stop and listen, you may be able to hear the sounds of nature and its song. 

Here's the sound spectrum of a humpback whale.

Did you find this article appealing to your ears? Please express your opinions in comments! See you next week when we'll learn about mysteries of the deep, deep, deep, deep, deep . . . (a lot more "deeps") ocean!

PS 1: To post a comment (this is highly encouraged), please simply click the post you wish to comment on, scroll to the bottom of the page and put what you wish to say or ask in the comment box. Then in the box below the comment box choose who you’re going to comment as. And then click preview or publish. If you aren’t signed into Google, you’ll be asked to type in a word and a number in the space provided. Type the word, put a space and then put the number. Then your comment is on the blog!

PS 2: Have a puzzling question about animals (including dinosaurs), myself, my latest book, my stop-motion movies, Creation or etc? Please post your question as a comment or send me an email at animaladventures@aol.com.

PS 3: What’s the latest scoop? Check it out at SMILEY’S NEWS.

PS 4: Be sure to comment on the latest stop-motion movies too, this will help me improve them.