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Wow Johan, that's cool! I should get a chance to try this very soon considering how many mozzies are about

I wonder if that means they always bite an artery rather than a vein so that the pressure from our own heart pumping keeps filling them up? Pity this is a family site, there are a number of expletives which come to mind when thinking about mozzies

Arteries run deeper in the body than veins. It is therefore unlikely that the mozzie will "mainline".

Only female mosquitoes bite. They are attracted by several things, including heat (infrared light), light, perspiration, body odour, lactic acid and carbon dioxide. The female lands on your skin and sticks her proboscis into you (the proboscis is very sharp and thin, so you may not feel it going in). A simple way to describe the proboscis: it consists of a tube bundle inside a straw. Some of the tubes deliver her saliva that contains proteins (anticoagulants) to prevent your blood from clotting. She sucks your blood into her abdomen, about 5 microliters per serving, through another tube dedicated to that function. The sucking mechanism is continuous and can only be interrupted by the mozzie pulling out her proboscis.

If the mozzie is disturbed during her meal, she will fly away. Otherwise, she will remain until she has a full abdomen. If you were to cut the sensory nerve to her abdomen that tells when she is full, she would keep sucking until she burst. By trapping her proboscis, the same thing happens.

After she has bitten you, some saliva remains in the wound. The proteins from the saliva evoke an immune response from your body. The area swells (the bump around the bite area is called a wheal), and you itch, a response provoked by the saliva. Eventually, the swelling goes away, but the itch remains until your immune system breaks down the saliva proteins.

To treat mosquito bites, you should wash them with mild soap and water. Try to avoid scratching the bite area, even though it itches. Some anti-itch medicines such as over-the-counter cortisone creams may relieve the itching. Typically, you do not need to seek medical attention (unless you feel dizzy or nauseated, which may indicate a severe allergic reaction to the bite).

An interesting fact about biting mozzies is that their actions cannot pass on HIV because:
1) the mozzie actually digests the virus!
2) they do not ingest enough HIV particles to transmit HIV
3) their feeding and numbing actions take place through different "tubes" and therefore they cannot disgorge infected blood.

Hi all

A new year of research is upon us. I am going to research the interaction between rhombic egg-eaters and various birds in one of our lovely parks here in the Western Cape. The problem is, I am with the PercyFitz institute at UCT. We're more on the feathery side of the project, which doesn't really help when doing research such as this.

My question is who is best to talk to about the location, capture and care of these snakes. Have any of you had experience with these snakes and have any tips?

I have e-mailed Martin Whiting in this regard but other contacts wouldn't hurt.

Any info would be appreciated, or info on how to get more info.

Regards

SAHGCA-UCT

Hi
Does anybody know where I can purchase elephant hair. I stay in Cape Town South Africa

Bennie - welcome to the forum.

But I have to ask - what are you going to do with elephant hair?

Hi Acekam
Thank you for your reply. I want to use the elephant hair to make an arrm bangle.

Hi Bennie,
Why re-invent the wheel?.There is a shop at the V&A waterfront that sells these bangles.
If this fails your best bet is to find an Elephant barber and see if he will sell you some
I will however see what I can find out for you and let you know.

Hi Cutman
Thanks for your reply. I actually want to make these bangles myself. Thanks for your willingness to assist me in this regard

Extremely diffucult to keep them. Especially small ones. I'll Pm you with contact details later..

Now I am wondering where would they get elephant hair....
It will eventually end up like the porcupine quil trade.... it all started by a few who picked quils up until somebody saw the demand and the market...... but I'm sure that poachers are making a few extra buck from the hair already...

Why walking with an arm bangle of elephant hair Bennie? Is that making a person more interesting? I saw these Elephant hair arm bangles in the shops in KNP and I didn't believed my eye,s because it is not allowed to take these arm bangles back to my country. The customs will take it away from you and you get a fine.Poachers will kill an Elephant only for his hair as Pilane already said so how can a person feel proud when he/she is walking with such an unrespecteble piece of animal cruelty.

That is so true Nico, I never thought of it that way...

This is an article on the home page.

There are a few possibilities here.

NO! They like them just as much for breakfast.

Seriously though, is a study warranted for such an obvious fact. They feed more mouths, are plentiful and provide a bit of a challenge to the hunters.

But hey, I am not going to spoil some oke's fun in proving it

I don't think lions prefer Buffalo for dinner (or breakfast for that matter). I suppose it depends on how you want to define what lions prefer. I suppose you could argue that deep down a lion really prefers to eat buffalo because it tastes better and kees him satisfied longer and gives him better tasting burps but that's hardly something that can ever be proved.

A more reasonable approach I would think is to have a look at a lion's typical diet. What do they catch in the wild? I don't have the statistics anymore but I do remember that lions biggest prey items are impala, followed by wildebeest, then giraffe, then zebra and then buffalo. However, the list is topped by scavenged items of food.

This would suggest that lions prefer junk food but if it comes down to hunting, they prefer impala.

The thing with buffalo is that they are pretty strong and hard to bring down. It usually takes more lions to bring down a buffalo and at greater risk to themselves. As a result, lions don't really hunt buffalo unless they have no other option.

But whether lions actually prefer the aftertaste of buffalo on the palette, I honestly don't know.

Hi everyone ,

Was just wondering if Giraffe make any vocal noise ? I certainly have never heard one call. If they do, what does it sound like ?

Many thanks