Jim Posted June 17, 2003 Posted June 17, 2003 Recent edition of Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology: Maybe you really are what you eat. This would solve the long-time mystery of why so many of Guam's Chamorro people - up to a third per village -- suffered a devastating neurological disease. A new study suggests that they gorged on flying fox bats that in turn had feasted on neurotoxin-laden cycad seeds. "Through the consumption of cycad-fed flying foxes, the Chamorro people may have unwittingly ingested large quantities of cycad neurotoxins," say Clark Monson of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Sandra Banack of California State University, Fullerton, and Paul Cox of the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Kalaheo, Hawaii, in the June issue of Conservation Biology. Guam's indigenous Chamorro people historically had a high incidence of a neurological disease with similarities to Lou Gehrig's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Called ALS-PDC (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis-Parkinsonian dementia complex), the disease's symptoms range from muscle weakness and paralysis to dementia. The rate of ALS-PDC has been as much as 100 times higher in Guam's Chamorro people than in the continental U.S. Monson and his colleagues hypothesized that the answer might be another thing unique to Guam's Chamorro people: they love to eat the local flying foxes. These bats, which have a three-foot wing span, are served at Chamorro weddings, village fiestas and religious events. The preparation is simple: wash and boil whole, and then eat the entire bat -- wings, brains, fur and all. http://www.conbio.org/SCB/Services/Tips/2003-6-June.cfm#A1 Quote
gregm Posted June 17, 2003 Posted June 17, 2003 didn't ozzie ozborne once bite the head of a bat onstage before he was a has-been? Quote
Dru Posted June 18, 2003 Posted June 18, 2003 maybe you really are what you eat i eat lots of horse cock Quote
catbirdseat Posted June 18, 2003 Posted June 18, 2003 Gamma aminomethyl L-Alanine appears similar in structure to the neurotransmitter gamma amino butyric acid (GABA). Perhaps it destroys specific receptors in the brain. The neurotoxin for some weird reason seems to affect humans but not bats or pigs who eat the cycad seeds. Quote
catbirdseat Posted June 18, 2003 Posted June 18, 2003 There is a difference between a nerd and a dork. I am the former and you are the latter. Actually "dolt" fits better. Quote
thelawgoddess Posted June 18, 2003 Posted June 18, 2003 yeah, i must concur. nerds actually know stuff; dorks don't necessarily know anything. Quote
rbw1966 Posted June 18, 2003 Posted June 18, 2003 catbirdseat said: There is a difference between a nerd and a dork. I am the former and you are the latter. Actually "dolt" fits better. I'll take dolt with a sense of humor over nerd with none. Thanks for the clarification. I truly am a dolt. Quote
ctuller Posted June 18, 2003 Posted June 18, 2003 Hmm. If I stop eating bats it may be easier to keep my garage clean of guano. Quote
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