Ripley Entertainment Inc.'s Blog, page 146
May 11, 2021
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May 9, 2021
The Platypus’s Journey to Motherhood: Biting, Dancing, and… Oozing?
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
The animal world is full of fascinating moms. Emperor penguins must waddle hundreds of miles through ice and snow to relocate their eggs. African elephants carry their young for almost two years before giving birth to a 200-pound, three-foot-tall baby. And while the platypus mom may not travel long distances or endure a lengthy gestation, she really does an amazing job at raising her young. Platypus newborns start out like almost no other mammal (aside from the echidna)—as an egg.
Biting Behavior & The Courtship “Dance”While all platypus babies are born with spurs on the back of their hind legs, they either use them or lose them as they mature. The females’ spurs drop off as they grow, while the males’ spurs stay put and eventually become venomous. Male platypuses use these spurs to fight one another for dominance during the mating season.
However, their reckless fighting isn’t enough to win over a lady. Wooing a female platypus can take quite a bit of time. The male lets his potential mate know that he is interested by biting onto her tail. An uninterested female will flee at the initial bite if she’s not ready to mate, but interested parties return the favor, biting onto the male’s tail as well.
From here, the two participate in a bit of a courtship “dance.” They swim together, diving, and rolling through the water like a pair of synchronized swimmers. This dance can happen up to six weeks before any mating actually occurs.
Once the female is ready to lay her eggs, she will build a burrow in which to do so. At this point, the male platypus has moved on to find a new mate to “dance” with, maintaining no contact with the female, nor with the babies. Not exactly father of the year, but we’re focusing on dear old mom today!
The female platypus typically lays two or three eggs. To keep them warm, she creates a bit of a nest, curling around the eggs with her tail touching her bill. The incubation process can last six to ten days, depending on the individual platypus.
Hatching Hairless and HelplessWhen platypuses hatch, they are blind, deaf, and hairless—in other words, completely vulnerable. They also aren’t much bigger than jelly beans! Their tiny size is due to the lack of nourishment in the eggs themselves. Baby platypuses, or puggles, require extra help from their mothers in order to grow.
Platypus moms are extra special in that they both lay eggs and produce milk. Usually it’s one or the other—many reptiles lay eggs, but do not produce milk and mammals produce milk, but (usually) do not lay eggs. Platypus moms (mammals) do both. However, even the way they do that is weird. Rather than having teats like most female mammals, the platypus instead oozes milk out of mammary glands under their skin like sweat.
Nourished by their mother’s milk, the puggles will increase in weight by a factor of twenty over the first four months of their lives. After this, the babies are ready to leave their burrow and start looking for their own food. They are considered fully grown at about a year old.
While their young may be a bit easier to carry than that 200-pound baby elephant, platypus moms still deserve a round of applause for their nesting, dancing, and motherly instincts!
By Julia Tilford, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Source: The Platypus’s Journey to Motherhood: Biting, Dancing, and… Oozing?
May 8, 2021
May 7, 2021
Houdini’s Motherly Love: Magician vs. Medium
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
It was June 17, 1913, and magician, actor, aviator—a man of many talents—Harry Houdini was having a press conference in Copenhagen when he was handed a telegram. His mother, Cecilia, with whom he always had a strong bond, had a stroke. A 30-year-old Houdini canceled all of his upcoming performances to get back to his mother in America as soon as he could, but, sadly, it was too late. Cecilia had passed and no trick in the book could bring her back.
Audiences began to see his acts take a turn toward the extreme, almost reckless—from burying himself alive to nearly drowning. Soon after, they witnessed a staunch crusade against Spiritualism, mediums, and psychics, or as Houdini called them, “vultures who prey on the bereaved.”
Houdini’s campaign against Spiritualism spurred from an unlikely friendship—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series. In the wake of his son’s death during the Great War, Doyle had become a believer in life after death and a missionary of Spiritualism, a religion that believes in spirit communication.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini in America, 1923. Gelatin silver print. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Photography Collection via www.utexas.edu
In 1922, Doyle suggested Houdini join him in trying to contact his mother, Cecilia. Houdini accepted and one Sunday afternoon in June, met Doyle and his wife Jean, a self-proclaimed medium, at the Ambassador Hotel in Atlantic City.
In the séance, Jean delivered pages upon pages of hand-written messages from Cecilia. One read, “Thank God! At last, I’m through!” But Houdini wasn’t buying it. His mother could not write English, let alone speak it from the other side. She spoke Yiddish. Additionally, at the top of each page was a cross. She also managed to say “Merry Christmas.” Cecilia was the wife of a rabbi and devoutly Jewish—this simply did not make sense. Lastly, the séance was held on her birthday, which never came up…
Doyle became defensive, explaining that the rules of our earthly world do not apply on the other side. Perhaps Houdini’s mother learned English in Heaven? The Doyles walked away feeling that Houdini was deeply moved by the experience—publicly proclaiming that Houdini was a Spiritualist believer. Houdini felt otherwise.
Houdini replied to the press that Spiritualism was a sham and its practitioners were fraudsters. A feud developed between the two celebrities. Doyle wrote that Houdini “was a very conceited and self-opinionated man.” Houdini retaliated by writing, “Doyle is a bit senile and easily bamboozled.”
Houdini used his platform to publicly denounce Spiritualism. He was on a mission. During tours, shows, and personal appearances to promote his films, Houdini projected visual presentations—PowerPoint before it was PowerPoint—breaking down how he believed mediums were using trickery disguised as mystic gifts. He’d even attend séances undercover, and once he gathered what he felt was sufficient evidence of fraud, he would leap up, dramatically flinging off his disguise.
Ironically, following Houdini’s death on Halloween 1926, Bess, his wife, began holding annual séances to contact him. She was quoted as “…taking up the magician’s wand laid down by her husband’s dying hand.” She and Houdini had agreed on a secret code he would communicate to her after his death. These Halloween séances went on for 10 years, but no medium ever cracked the secret code.
Liebler & Maass Lith., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
After Houdini’s death, Doyle wrote Bess a letter of condolence, although it was unrelenting. “I am sure that, with strength of character (and possibly his desire to make reparation), he will come back,” he wrote. As a gesture of gratitude, Bess sent him a portfolio of artwork by Doyle’s own father that Houdini acquired at auction. Doyle accepted the surprising gift as a peace offering and the feud was finally settled from beyond the grave.
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Las Vegas Pool Crew Chills Out With Ice Age Discovery
Featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not!
[May 3–May 9, 2021] International border blunder, marshmallow marvels, and a riveting river monster—all round-up in this week’s weird news from Ripley’s Believe It or Not!
Cult Leaders Mummified Remains Found Covered in Christmas LightsSeven people were arrested in Colorado this week after the mummified remains of Amy Carlson, 45, leader of the “Love Has Won” cult, were discovered in a follower’s home.
An unnamed follower of the spiritual group discovered Carlson’s body in a bedroom of his Moffat, Colorado, home upon returning from a trip to Denver on Wednesday. Carlson, also known as “Mother God,” was wrapped in a sleeping bag and adorned with Christmas lights.
The follower reported his findings to the police, saying he believed the group of fellow “Love Has Won” devotees he had recently taken in had brought Carlson’s body along on their journey from California.
According to arrest affidavits, “the mummified remains appeared to be set up in some type of shrine” with “glitter type makeup” framing Carlson’s eyes.
Carlson claimed to have lived 534 lives, even those of Jesus Christ and Marilyn Monroe. She led her followers to believe she could communicate with angels, heal cancer, and bring about a “great awakening” of peace on Earth.
Tom Perrin, Saguache County Coroner, backdated Carlson’s death to around a month ago and a toxicology report is pending. Though foul play is not suspected, those arrested are facing charges of tampering with a corpse.
Frustrated Farmer Changes French Border
Her body was found in a shrine allegedly erected by her followers in her religious group “Love Has Won,” which some officials and former members have described as a cult https://t.co/8fniFGyXw8
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 5, 2021
A busy Belgian farmer fed up with a 330-pound stone blocking his path decided to take the logical next step and move it so he could get through. Except, this was no ordinary rock. It was one of a series of stones that have marked the French and Belgium border since the 1820 Treaty of Kortrijk.
While taking a stroll through the area, a local historian noticed the stone had been relocated by 7 ½ feet, pushed further into Bousignies-sur-Roc, France.
“He made Belgium bigger and France smaller; it’s not a good idea,” quipped David Lavaux, mayor of Erquelinnes, Belgium, adding, “I was happy, my town was bigger, but the mayor of Bousignies-sur-Roc didn’t agree.”
The oblivious farmer will not face legal consequences so long as he returns the stone—and border—to its rightful place.
Marshmallow Stunt Launches YouTubers into International Acclaim
A Belgian farmer accidentally extended his country’s border with France by moving a large stone erected more than 200 years ago — apparently because it was blocking the path of his tractor pic.twitter.com/U8szsgmCBV
— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) May 6, 2021
This week, Utah YouTubers Dallas Anderson and Jon Paleka were awarded the Guinness World Record title for “farthest marshmallow propelled and caught in the mouth” with an impressive 225-feet 10-inch launch.
The brains and faces behind the Thrive On Vibes YouTube Channel began catching marshmallows in their mouths for the enjoyment of their viewers when inspiration struck.
The men set out to achieve their newfound goal of catching a marshmallow from a distance on a snowy December day, with Anderson in charge of a giant slingshot and Paleka mouth agape and at the ready on the other side.
After only two attempts, the duo accomplished their mission, far surpassing the previous record of 128 feet, 5 inches.
Aside from Paleka cutting inside of his lip while catching the marshmallow, the stunt went off without a hitch—a small price to pay for international acclaim!
Pro Ball Player-Sized Sturgeon Wins State TitleView this post on Instagram
A post shared by Guinness World Records (@guinnessworldrecords)
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crew surveying the Detroit River reeled in a winner last week when they caught a sturgeon the size of a professional athlete—the largest ever found in the state of Michigan.
According to the Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, the 6-foot, 10-inch “river monster” was captured for tagging during a survey near the Grosse Ile, Michigan, and broke the state record for largest sturgeon ever seen in the state, as well as one of the largest in the country.
Catching the “river monster” was not an easy haul, taking three crew members to lure in the 240-pound fish, including 5-foot, 6-inch Jennifer Johnson, who posed for a quick picture of the massive creature before releasing it back into the wild.
The “once-in-a-lifetime catch” may be the size of a basketball player, but at an estimated 100-years-old, we don’t think the old gal would have it in her to compete on a professional level.
A Las Vegas couple looking forward to spending their days relaxing by their new pool were shocked when workers installing their oasis dug up a bit more than desert sand—a collection of animal bones dating back to the Ice Age!
After recently relocating to Las Vegas, Matt Perkins and his husband were settling into their home quite nicely until police officers showed up Monday morning. Upon hearing they were there to investigate bones buried in their backyard, the couple was rightfully “freaked out,” but their fears were stifled when they were told the remains were of thousands-year-old animals.
Perkins and his husband reached out to the Nevada Science Center’s Director of Research, Joshua Bonde, about the discovery, who determined the bones likely came from a horse, or similarly sized animal, up to 14,000 years ago!
Oddly enough, Perkins and his husband had recently joked about hoping a dinosaur would be discovered during installation that would pay for the pool. Manifestation, perhaps?
By Meghan Yani, contributor for Ripleys.com
EXPLORE THE ODD IN PERSON! Discover hundreds of strange and unusual artifacts and get hands-on with unbelievable interactives when you visit a Ripley’s Odditorium!Source: Las Vegas Pool Crew Chills Out With Ice Age Discovery
May 6, 2021
May 5, 2021
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