22 November 2011

A toad with a living intraocular worm


I don't know what type of worm this is, but when as I watched the video I was reminded of guinea worms that infect human eyes, and of Sir David Attenborough's pronouncement on that subject:
Andrew Denton: When you see this sort of stuff, do you ever get a sense of God's pattern?

Sir David Attenborough: Well, if you ask…about that, then you see remarkable things like that earwig and you also see all very beautiful things like hummingbirds, orchids, and so on. But you also ought to think of the other, less attractive things. You ought to think of tapeworms. You ought to think of…well, think of a parasitic worm that lives only in the eyeballs of human beings, boring its way through them, in West Africa, for example, where it's common, turning people blind. So if you say, "I believe that God designed and created and brought into existence every single species that exists," then you've also got to say, "Well, he, at some stage, decided to bring into existence a worm that's going to turn people blind." Now, I find that very difficult to reconcile with notions about a merciful God. And I certainly find it difficult to believe that a God — superhuman, supreme power — would actually do that.
And another observation from the same interview:
Andrew Denton: As perhaps the most experienced broadcaster in the world, here's a question for you. Why is it alright for kids to watch zebras having sex on television, but it's pornographic if humans do it?

Sir David Attenborough: Very difficult question, and I don't know the answer. Um…and of course, oddly enough, it's the same with violence. That people will object very much to seeing a predator killing its prey, and yet, in the news, will accept showing shots of people shooting one another. It's just awful.

11 comments:

  1. Reminds me of the copepods that live in the eyeballs of Greenland sharks (which are truly bizarre creatures themselves). They completely burrow themselves into the eyes of the sharks, except for these long, stringy bits (which, if my memory serves me, are their genitalia!) that dangle outside the eyeball. Absolutely disgusting!

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  2. Crazy copepod!

    http://creepyanimals.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/greenland-shark-parasite.jpg

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  3. Not 100% sure, but I believe these parasitic copepoda also attack sea turtles, rendering them blind in some cases.

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  4. I don't think it looks that bad. People always overreact that kind of situaALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD

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  5. I have a worm phobia. Always have. Even common earthworms freak me out b/c some of their relatives are so ... personally invasive. But even when they aren't parasitic, they just get really disturbing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcKpx2DxGwY&feature=channel_video_title

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  6. That's the Tubifex video -

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tubifex_tubifex

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  7. Oh, yeah I know. Shouldn't have linked it since the title claims it's "unknown". Just liked the video due to it's disturbing presentation. Thanks though :D

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  8. "I find that very difficult to reconcile with notions about a merciful God. And I certainly find it difficult to believe that a God — superhuman, supreme power — would actually do that."

    Or that all creatures were created for the use of man...

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  9. oh, and on the sex thing, I would think it's because humans have the kinkiest of sex, some a little more disturbing than others.

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