Did you know that the Platypus has 10 sex hormones. I have no idea what this means.

Here's a photo. It really doensn't look anything like The Waterhorse. It really is an odd looking mammal.

http://images.search.yahoo.com/image...=1&tt=59%2C734

Glenntaj

You must have majored in zoology!! Or at least paid attention in class.

I was unaware of a second egg laying mammal...I will have to look it up to see what it looks like.

You win a bigger prize...hmm, well there isn't an icon for anything better than a hug...well maybe a or

As much as I loved The Waterhorse, and want one...the movie carried a very good lesson...to leave things in nature where they should be. Alas, there would be no good place for a Waterhorse, nor platypus in my area....and Crusoe, he/she needed to be wild.

I did have a giant spider in the garden for the summer named Charlotte, but
we respectfully kept our distance from each other.

So Glenntaj...is there an adrongenous--or should I say bi-gendered egg laying mammal? I know I remember hearing that some higher order animals are capable of asexual reproduction...I can't think of what they are. I guess what I am asking is there any higher order animal, that is both male and female...especially a mammal? This movie was based on an unusual scientific/mythical premise....quite creative.

We are having a thunderstorm....my gosh, it is January....global warming is back to my area..or PERHAPS all the political hot air coming up from Iowa!!....heaven help us if this freezes.

Mel

That was an interesting article!!!

You know they kind of simplified the human sex determination thing to X and Y...there are more. Off hand I think I remember an XO and an XXY or was it XYY...there are some odd combinations out there....makes ya wonder. Maybe some one else knows more about that....if we want to know any more about that.

I do think genetics and evolution is a pretty wonderous thing. There was just a recent article on homo sapiens and neanderthals 'admixing'.

That platypus is a wonder.

As to "Todd", Depp is a very versatile character actor, & I like musicals.
That was the only reason whyI attended the movie, last week.

Popcorn & 'Raisinets' in hand..........
(I seldom get to the movies, I prefer live stage,both drama & musicals - and go to NY as often as possible to see it at its best, altho my local community & professional theatres do a fine job here too), I sat down to one of the most exciting films Depp has made (incuding the "Pirates" films - more like his "Jack the Ripper" one -forgot the titile- with music).
His ability to be a character actor at his age (most charcter actors are middle aged to elderly) gives credit to his art.
I can appreciate his ability to do a musical, his first, when he has only done dramas. Not an easy task without having the vocals dubbed by someone else.
It was much gorier than the stage play that it was modeled after,
but that's Hollywood for ya. The ability to infer the gore, is-I think, more challenging than to show it. But movie goers are into the gore and excitement of action movies and horror-mystery thrillers.
So, the movie makers are pandering to the public thrill & gore seekers. It did not alter my evaluation of the quality of the flick.
This will be nomiated this year, I believe.
It may even win some awards.
It deserves it.

Now lets see if Depp can do a classic comedy, not a dark one - but a classic - complete with pratt-falls and spit-takes.
That'll complete his repitoire.

I honestly can not go to a movie that is TOO exciting....I get an autonomic attack....

I can't watch a war movie as I get PTSD from my son's deployment!!..and I cry thu the whole thing.

I can not watch gore.

Alas, I am confined to the kids stuff, and comedies...comedies are great.

Oh I hit a live concert or performance now and then...just saw 'America' in the fall...they were great. 'Ventura Highway....' "Horse with No Name'...our next adventure is one of those knock off Cirque de Soleil things...I don't live anywhere near Broadway.

I have the most wonderful family that seems to know that I lost most of the plans I had for the 'second half' of my life when we closed my business, and I got this disease, which pretty much wiped out my fun runs and bike races and tours.....my husband and kids buy me tickets to all kinds of things and force me to move....when many days I would rather sulk.

I was on my way to getting back to taking long therapeutic walks, had two good ones under my belt....and today we had rain and now fog so bad I can not see from the house to the road, literally....the snow and ice is covered with wet rain. There is nothing slipperier than wet ice...if I fell in this fog, no one would see me for what could be days....uless they had a thermal imaging camera. Any normal person could not stand on this wet ice, let alone me.

I am determined not to turn on the TV until noon...I did get Sirius radio for Christmas...that is going right now.

Thank goodness for the Waterhorse and similar genre.

If you want to see anything that HAS EVER BEEN IN THE MOVIES, LIVE THEATERE,...WELL ANYTHING. Just go to youtube and type in whatever you are looking for.

I think youtube is the greatest thing on this earth. I've seen more stuff on youtube than you can imagine.

I love the internet. It's got more free stuff (movies, tv shows, WHATEVER), so I can enjoy something without breaking the bank.

Of course nothing compares to live stage. I've seen a few musicals BUT, with my arthritis and with Alan's PN, well, who on earth can fit in those cramped seats. I kept trying to straighten out my legs (couldn't do it), and Alan was shaking his leg to deal with his PN. So going to these places is not in our best interest. It's counter-productive.

So we just go on the computer and enjoy the same thing. Sometimes it's even better because you get to see close up.

I've seen MAMMA MIA, I've seen Dreamgirls (on youtube, they have many various versions), and my favorite is the one with Jennifer Holiday singing her heart out to Cleavant Derricks. Holy Moly, can that woman sing!!!

Youtube (as well as other sites), gives us the ability to view things we might never have been able to see.

I for one hope it stays around for a long time.

And Alan is busy making videos, thinking he's the next karaoke singer. Keeps his mind off his feet.

melody
P.S. How come I'm the only one using the webcam and making videos and uploading to youtube. I'd like to see what the rest of you look like.
So come on, be brave.

Speaking of Waterhorses....I have to sit on the aisle...I have a water balance issue....it has something to do with the autonomic neuropathy, but if my system decides I have too much fluid....Katie bar the door....

I have no control issues...I mean I can hold it for a long time....but I go thru times when the old brain just says....dump fluid....and it is every 5 to 15 minutes for a while...and it is not my imagination. I assume there is cardiac or arterio-venous feedback that says shed that water or we are going to over load....so my bilge empties.

I had one run during the movie...at a critical point in time....and hubby had to tell me two big things I missed.

near or in New York City. It has been my dream to go out to dinner in one of those fancy restaurants that a limo drops you off at,and then takes me to a Broadway show.

I just want to walk around Manhattan and go see all the sights including the Staue of Liberty. I would think that it is all very exciting. The culture the clothes,the cafes.

I would also like to go visit and place some flowers down at Ground Zero, as many fellow Australians have gone to pay there respects.

One day this is my hope, that I am well enough and I am free enough from this PN and anxiety to take my son (my best friend), jump on a plane and take him to see New York.

Well NY is truly one of a kind, and on 9/11 we were all New Yorkers.

Me? I would like to see me a roo, mate.

--have lived here almost all of my life, and as a result, take far too much of what this city has to offer for granted. (I also want to go see the wallabies, and the kiwis . . .)

BTW, I do not know of any higher vertebrates that are bi-sexual or hemaphroditic in nature, although thre are apparently some reptiles, and a number of fish, that can change gender in response to environmental stimuli, and I recently read that some fish can reproduce without male and female sex cells meeting (though genetic diversity is still the preferred route).

As for knowing about the echidna--not a zoology major, just an autodidactic geek.