Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for July 06, 2020

oh, the stories you’d hear from Indian rats (I think Henry Jones, Sr. would avoid that temple)

It would have been so appropriate, had Roger Williams been absorbed by a Red Maple…

On remote detection of odors by insects.

As a twelve year old interested in nature, I really wanted to see a live Polyphemus moth. They are very large and beautiful. I had only seen preserved in specimens in insect collections.

One year, in the Fall, I found a cocoon on a branch in the woods, brought it home, propped it in a vase on my desk. The following Spring, it hatched one night when I was asleep. When I woke, there she was, my long sought Polyphemus.

It was clinging to the screen over my open window. When I went closer, I saw that there were three of them! How? I knew only one could emerge from a cocoon. Then I noticed: One inside the screen and two outside.

A little research gave me the answer. A female Polyphemus releases a pheromone that the males can detect from up to six miles away! They will fly directly to her to mate and she will lay eggs the same day.

The amount of the pheromone is infinitesimal, about one billionth of a gram. Still, that amounts to a few hundred molecules. But six miles!

Life will find a way.

[I let her go, of course.]

No wonder the Rolling Stones sang, “Don’t mind the maggots.”

I guess they were a little too late on that “more suitable” memorial!

I had heard on a nature show that flies were the most disgusting creatures on Earth (but I didn’t hear why). This can certainly be one of several reasons!

Talk about your family tree.

Local town green lost an old tree when they removed it they found bones! What kind of trees do they have in PA? I would stay away from them.

I’m surprised there’d be that many stories to tell in a temple.

Take care and gesundheit.

NOBODY TOLD ME!!!

Ew!!! I didn’t even know that was a thing! Trees absorbing human remains? What the heck??

No wonder anyone from India with common sense, brains, and a college degree are tripping over themselves to get to America.

Reminds me of “Inherit the Earth: Quest for the Orb,” in which rats are scholars.

Too slow; a lawyer can be there in less then 10 minutes…

Reference: ALL OF TODAY’S FEATURES…..

Explains the going’s on in The Capital these days….

I never believe a rat.

How could that happen (concerning Roger William’s body)?

Moral: Never bury a corpse near or under a tree.