Platypuses have no nipples. After the young hatch, the mother oozes milk from the pores all over her body.
The male platypus has a poison barb on the inside of its hind legs. The purpose of this weapon is uncertain.
While often compared to the beaver, the platypus is only about 20 inches in length -- more comparable to the size of the muskrat.
The Platypus bill is actually just an elongated muzzle covered with much the same kind of tough skin found on a dog's nose. This bill contains an electrically-sensitive organ that can detect the electrical signatures of the small aquatic animals it eats.
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Stonehenge 'No Place for the Dead', Says BU Expert
Written by Everything Science
Nov 18, 2006 at 12:00 AM
Professor Timothy Darvill, Head of the Archaeology Group at Bournemouth University, has breathed new life into the controversy surrounding the origins of Stonehenge by publishing a theory which suggests that the ancient monument was a source and centre for healing and not a place for the dead as believed by many previous scholars.
Professor Geoff Wainwright (left) and Professor Tim Darvill share the view that Stonehenge is a place of healing and not of death.
After publication of his new book on the subject - Stonehenge: The Biography of a Landscape (Tempus Publishing) - Professor Darvill also makes a case for revellers who travel to be near the ancient monument for the summer solstice in June to reconsider. Instead, Professor Darvill believes that those seeking to tap into the monument’s powers at its most potent time of the year should do so in December during the winter solstice when our ancestors believed that the henge was ‘occupied’ by a prehistoric god - the equivalent of the Roman and Greek god of healing, Apollo – who ‘chose’ to reside in winter with the Hyborians, long believed to be the ancient Britons.
The basis for Professor Darvill’s findings lies in the Preseli Mountains in west Wales where he and colleague Professor Geoffrey Wainwright have located an exact origin for the bluestones used in the construction of Stonehenge some 250 km away.
“The questions most people ask when they consider Stonehenge is ‘why was it built?’ and ‘how was it was used?’” says Professor Darvill. “Our work has taken us to the Preseli Mountains to provide a robust context for the source of the bluestones and to explore various ideas about why those mountains were so special to prehistoric people”.
“We have several strands of evidence to consider. First, there have folklore in the form of accounts written in the 14th century which refer to a magician bringing the stones from the west of the British Isles to what we know as Salisbury Plain,” he continues. “It was believed that these particular stones had many healing properties because in Preseli, there are many sacred springs that are considered to have health-giving qualities; the water comes out of the rocks used to build Stonehenge and it’s well established that as recently as the late 18th century, people went to Stonehenge to break off bits of rock as talismans.
“Also, around the Stonehenge landscape, there are many burials, some of which have been excavated and amongst these there are a good proportion of people who show sings of being unwell – some would have walked with a limp or had broken bones – just the sort of thing that in modern times pressurises people to seek help from the Almighty.
“In the case of Stonehenge, I suggest that the presiding deity was a prehistoric equivalent of the Greek and Roman god of healing, Apollo. Although his main sanctuary was at Delphi in Greece, it is widely believed that he left Greece in the winter months to reside in the land of the Hyborians – usually taken to be Britain.
“Altogether, and with the incorporation of the stones from Wales, Stonehenge is a very powerful and positive place of pilgrimage, although whether the monument’s healing power actually worked is a matter for further discussion,” he concludes.
Stonehenge `No Place for the Dead`, Says BU Expert omakemeasandwich June 19th, 2007 - 2:53 PM
Hello here's something I bet nobody is aware of but while doing armature research on sacred mount diablo in California,I discovered that indeed it is a sacred place and much more too." where light originates"," at the day"," a supernatural being that illuminates a land that was previously dark" ,are but a few of the names native Americans have given mount diablo,well here is something that makes the names make more sense that I discovered, if you were to stand on the top of mount diablo and watch the sun set on the summer solstice which is just a couple days away at the moment the sun sets below the horizon which is roughly 5 minutes later then if you were standing at sea level ,at the same moment it sets and just the peak of the mountain was still illuminated by the setting sun, is the same moment it begins to rise at Stonehenge,or very close to it ,reason is the two locations are 120 degrees apart ,the sun is at another 120 degrees around the earth and guess where that is? Mongolia say what you will but that's a fact,and believed by many to be the place of origin for the California Indians and many other tribes across the nation as well,so why is diablo sacred and why did they build Stonehenge? the Indians believe that there ceremonies are critical if they are to be in harmony with the universe and equally as important if there ceremonies are to be successful then they need to be performed at the proper time, so there for the reason was so that everyone that left Mongolia would know when the proper time to perform there sacred ceremonies was that was taking place at that moment at the capital of there belief in Mongolia the capital of the oldest known religion,so all could remain in harmony and rhythm with the universe,Stonehenge was built by Mongolia that to this day celebrates solstice at high noon just where the sun happens to be when it is rising over the heal stone at Stonehenge on the morning of the summer solstice and where the last light of the sun is seen from the top of mount diablo in California now the home of decedents of the Mongolian people and now called native American Indians,its really not that hard to believe when you consider that millions of followers of Islam face the sunset every evening and address there prayers toward the capital of there religion mecca and have done so for a very long time,very much like the American Indian at solstice also have done for a very long time, bottledigger extraordinaire Kurt buckler
Stonehenge `No Place for the Dead`, Says BU Expert pahana December 22nd, 2007 - 12:59 PMthe builders of stonehengeindeed were connected with n.america.in fact,the tuatha de danaan and others had thier cultural origins here and i have the proof...there profound art is laying all over the northwest,icould show you many profound thins..like how the blocks were probably moved by domesticated mastodon,as shown in the collected art here...peace..pahana
Re: Stonehenge `No Place for the Dead`, Says BU Expert Orstio December 23rd, 2007 - 8:26 AMI don't know about domesticated mastodon, but there is growing evidence of European-North American connection about 13000 years ago.
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