The Attack of the Man-of-War

Posted on Feb. 21, 2008 at 10:46 PM in College: Animal Essays

This was my first English essay that I wrote, It was a descriptive narrative essay. (with help from some :) ) I received a 91% after revising it about 5 times. Anyways, as you can see it is still in college type format so it is very big and spacing is weird. I just copied and pasted from Microsoft word 2007 so :) Anyway, hope you enjoy.         

              It was the summer of my fifteenth birthday when I traveled with a group of friends to the Gulf of California, Mexico. After a spending a few hours in town talking to the locals, we learned the waters were home to the famous Portuguese Man-of-War jellyfish. They warned us that the sting from the jellyfish was extremely painful, and possibly fatal. Right then I decided I strongly disliked these creatures. But after having a personal encounter later that day I formed a new opinion of the creature called jellyfish.
             I have never seen a Man-of-War; in fact, I had never seen any kind of live jellyfish. Once our truck stopped at our destination, my friends piled out and raced toward the water. I lagged behind to enjoy the scenery. The water was a perfect coral blue on the surface, dark and mysterious below. The sand beneath my feet seemed to be painted a caramel brown color, with hints of white to indicate the presence of sea shells. The snowy white colored waves seemed to race towards the shore as they overlapped each other. The hot sun felt peaceful against my skin, with a slight breeze to keep me cool.
            Something shimmering against the sun caught my attention. I found a turquoise blob lying on the sand. It was a Man-of-War. I stared at it, taking in every detail: the turquoise color of its umbrella shaped head, its almost translucent body, and the squishy, slimy appearance, even the rotten egg smell of the body after it was roasting in the hot summer sun.  I found the tentacles intriguing. There were twenty to twenty-five long, noodle like extending from the bottom of its umbrella shaped head. Each tentacle was a different length, some only inches long, and others ten feet long. I wondered what the sting would feel like but I did not want to find out.
            As I was in the water I did my best to avoid the typical jellyfish floating on the surface. Eventually, I spotted a very familiar turquoise color blob floating near me. I hoped it would float past me; however, I felt a searing hot pain on my shoulder. My instinct was to raise my arm out of the water and try to rid myself of the tentacles. This action caused the other tentacles to wrap around both of my arms.
           I felt like I had been burned. In a panic, I scraped both my arms against my shirt, but I could not remove the jellyfish. Every movement I made caused the jellyfish to wrap around me more. It was like trying to undo Saran Wrap, each movement getting more complicated as I tried to remove it from my arms. A friend swam over and grabbed the tentacles and ripped them off my arms. All I did was close my eyes and clutch my arms. With much effort I swam back to the shore, rushed over to our truck ,and wrapped my arms with a towel. My arms burned and throbbed with pain. One common remedy is to pour vinegar on the wounds. Unfortunately, we did not come prepared with vinegar. There were marks on my arms for weeks after the encounter. Now I knew what a jellyfish sting felt like.

     My personal encounter changed my fear and dislike of the jellyfish. I thought about the fact that I was in their territory and the attack was not malicious. As I researched the jellyfish, I discovered many colorful varieties. Their body consists of only nerves and they are mostly carried by the tide. The more knowledge I gain in my research, the more I wonder, how could I have disliked them before?

 -Julia

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Research that makes for a very loooong post :D

Posted on Nov. 2, 2007 at 9:20 AM in College: Animal Essays

 This is a touching,riveting story of a liones and a baby Oryx Antelope becoming more than predator and prey. This story, my friends, is indeed a true event that happened between 2002-2003. The Samburu tribe's of northern Kenya, Africa, along with many others, believe this is a message from God. The message, that two very different lives can come together in peace and harmony.
   This lioness, known as Kamunyak (meaning: 'Blessed one' in the native language of Samburu tribes), has adopted a baby antelope againts the laws of the animal kingdom. This relationship between predator and prey as become a legend among the locals. No one knowns how Kamunyak, apparently a solitary lioness, came across the calf but when the two were spotted for the first time the couple was lying down in the grass (see picture above), without a care in the world. Lion experts were baffled by her behavior, as Kamunyak defied the laws of nature with this strange relationship between predator and prey.
   To help try to unravel her strange behavior, animal expert Saba Douglas-Hamilton, took it upon herself to follow Kamunyak, and with the help of her sister, film this extraordinary event. As Saba followed Kamunyak she began theorizing several possible explanation's to Kamunyak's behavior. One, she could have lost a cub around the same time she found the calf and to relieve her motherly depression she adopted the calf as her own. Which would explain that wherever the calf went, Kamunyak followed. But as Saba studied Kamunyak as the days progressed she saw that Kamunyak was not of mothering age, but instead about three years old. The next possibility was that Kamunyak watched her pride die in a tragedy, but only at a very young age would that have a emotional effect on her. Kamunyak would have joined another pride once she was older, but she didn't. Saba believe's Kamunyak is emotionally scarred by witnessing her prides death, possibly at the hands of lion's greatest enemy- Man.
   Many conflicts on the african plain between man and lion has caused the dwindling number of lions in Kenya. Most of the conflicts are spurred because of livestock being killed for food and the farmers killing the lion when it was only trying to get a feed. Every member of a lion pride is important with each lion having a specific goal among the pride's social structure. If one dies the whole system is disrupted. The lioness's of the pride are known to defend each other, whereas the male lions have been known to die protecting their family. The female's bond grows stronger as they all give birth around the same time and they raise the new cubs in a 'nursery'. Understanding Kamunyak's unnatural behavior as a predator is proving harder the unravel.
   By day six, the calf and Kamunyak still have not eaten and the calf begins to wander away. But as usual Kamunyak is close behind. As the calf finds a nearby Oryx herd, she finds her mother and begins to suckle. A baby Oryx needs it's mother's milk until three months of age where they are then weened off and on to vegetation. The response of Kamunyak's presence is strong among the Oryx herd and their instinct is to run, which is what they do. The mother to the calf takes her baby along but due to lack of proper nutrition the calf can not keep up and neither can Kamunyak. As Kamunyak searches for the baby she begins calling the calf. Lionesses make a low grumbling sound when they are searching for their calf, and thats what she is doing with the calf. Eventually they find each other and travel on side by side.
   As Saba watches Kamunyak over the next few days she can only imagine what kind of traumatic experience Kamunyak went through when she was younger that caused this behavior to come about. It's just not normal for a lone lioness. By day twelve, Kamunyak has not eaten since she found the calf, whereas the calf hasn't had a single meal since she last saw her herd. A female lioness, especially a lone one, will not leave it's cub to go hunt and risk the cub getting eaten by a male lion or some other form of predator.
   The story 'Heart of a Lioness' spread fast across Kenya and many locals and tourists had come to the preseve to witness the two. But without proper food, the two seem to be growing weaker day by day. At day fifteen, the warden of the Samburu preserve is under alot of pressure from the locals, and tourists, to intervene adn provide the two with proper food. Later that night the warden along with park rangers bring a carcass of a buffalo to Kamunyak, but she will not even it the food sitting in front of her. The calf still hasn't eaten.
   The next morning the two make it down to the local watering hole. After a long,refreshing drink the two seem visibly stonger. After a short walk Kamunyak lays down in a patch of shade and for the first time she allows the calf to roam out of her sight while she rests. But a little freedom turns deadly as a solitary male lion ambushes the calf from the bush, biting it's neck with it's powerful jaws. The calf starts whining and Kamunyak runs to her aid. But in an instant she is almost attacked herself by the male lion. Without the help of other lionesses she is defenseless against the male. The male lies down to devour it's prey with Kamunyak close by, visibly distressed and grows desperate but backs away at any sign of the male attacking her. Understandably, Kamunyak is scared.
   Due to her traumatic past it seems Kamunyak has no choice but to stay away. All that is left is the calfs blood around the males mouth. As soon as the male leaves it's killing spot Kamunyak wanders over to the site and sniffs the ground. She begins to whine and moan, just like a normal lioness would do if she had lost her calf to a male lion. After the horrible death of the calf Kamunyak finally goes on the hunt and eventually catches a warthog for dinner. Her first meal in sixteen days.
   Over the next year Kamunyak is followed closely by the park rangers and she adopted five more Oryx calf's. Three of the calf's escaped Kamunyak and found their herds. One died shortly after she adopted it because of starvation. The last she adandoned with a wandering Oryx herd. Then unfortunately Kamunyal disappears in the jungle. No one has seen her since she abandoned the last calf. Saba's, along with mine and many others, only hope is that she found a pride of her own and survived and is possibly living with her own real cubs.
   The touching tale of a Lion adopting it's main food source has been spread around the world along with the message that two very different lives can live in peace and harmony. Saba leaves you with this statement,
  

I have been working on this story for several weeks now, and even though it is sad it is very inspirational and a great learning experience. God has allowed us to have these wonderful animals to live with and even though some are dangerous they are all important in each way. They all have feelings, now you know some of them that Kamunyak has, joy, protection of children, sadness, mourning, and so many more. One of my favorite verses in the bible is  Isaiah 11:6, "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leaopard shall lie down with the kid: and the calf and the young lion..." How very appropriate for this story of "Heart of a Lioness"

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