Nature's monsters

Of course there's no such thing as ugly animals, but there's an entertaining attempt to treat the oxymoron in the New York Times: "A Masterpiece of Nature? Yuck!"

It stars the star-nosed mole (Condylura cristata), a tunneler and part-time swimmer from the low, wet parts of eastern North America. It is the world's fastest forager. Pretty much its whole face comprises the eponymous "star-nose," a wheel of eleven pairs of supersensative "tendrils," radiating around a mouth that's hungry for insects, worms, and other small invertebrates.



"The star-nosed mole's brain processes the information [from its pink, fleshy tendrils] at a very high speed, which approaches the upper limit at which nervous systems are capable of functioning," says Neurophilosophy blog at ScienceBlogs. "Approximately half of the brain is devoted to processing sensory information from the nose."

It's true, C. cristata may have brains, but it is not a classical beauty. See the Times for more pictures - both a slide show and reader submissions.

Other supposedly ugly animals:

The blobfish (Psychrolutes marcidus), facing extinction;

Warthogs, "neither graceful nor beautiful..." (Phacochoerus africanus);

The manatee (Trichechus spp.), a bloated, mopey torpedo shunned by researchers;

And our own Sphynx cat, an inbred "gargoyle of human creation!"

Bedbugs take over

Bedbugs (Cimex lectularis) are gross, creepy, and they're multiplying, virtually usurping power in New York City and the entire state of Ohio. But, as a great article from the New York Times points out, they don't appear to spread disease, and there may be more to fear from the pesticides used against them.

According to the article, few researches focus on this particular parasite; "most study grants come from the pesticide industry and ask only one question: What kills it?"

Those researchers that do specialize in bedbugs are charmingly kooky: "The classic bedbug strain that all newly caught bugs are compared against is a colony originally from Fort Dix, N.J., that a researcher kept alive for 30 years by letting it feed on him."

Since 2006, the fight has cost over $250 million nationwide, a vexing battle since the blood-suckers resist most pesticides. Currently, hope is fixated on propoxur, which the EPA warns may be carcinogenic, banning it for indoor use in 2007. Ohio, with four winners in Terminix’s top 15 bedbug-infested cities, is leading 25 other states in petitioning for an emergency exemption.

It’s a toss-up between dangerous chemicals: "authorities around the country have blamed house fires on people misusing all sorts of highly flammable garden and lawn chemicals to fight bedbugs," says the AP.

Maybe our blood-eating buddies are here to stay. They’ve even found their way into national politics.