Is the following, by Jonathan, an example of suspended animation - in this case of a newt?
Back in 1976, my family moved into an old house. In the garden was a very old rockery, made up of paving stones and old bricks. A neighbour told us it had been there for many years.
In 1986, I decided to get rid of the rockery and create a shrub border instead.
It was hard work, as the soil was heavy with clay and the day was hot.
I chipped away at the soil with a spade for quite a while. Then, to my horror, I realised that I had chopped a newt in half. The newt was perfectly preserved.
After that I dug much more carefully. To my surprise, I found two more newts, which I managed to extricate from the soil without damaging them. They were stiff and cold but looked otherwise to be in perfect condition.
I laid the newts on the grass, in the sunshine, while I filled a washing up bowl; then left them in the water while I continued to work.
After about twenty minutes I took a look at them and, to my amazement, they were slowly swimming around in the water.
To my mind this was a phenomenon, as they had been entombed in that hard soil for probably twenty years or more.
Was this an example of suspended animation?
In 1986, I decided to get rid of the rockery and create a shrub border instead.
It was hard work, as the soil was heavy with clay and the day was hot.
I chipped away at the soil with a spade for quite a while. Then, to my horror, I realised that I had chopped a newt in half. The newt was perfectly preserved.
After that I dug much more carefully. To my surprise, I found two more newts, which I managed to extricate from the soil without damaging them. They were stiff and cold but looked otherwise to be in perfect condition.
I laid the newts on the grass, in the sunshine, while I filled a washing up bowl; then left them in the water while I continued to work.
After about twenty minutes I took a look at them and, to my amazement, they were slowly swimming around in the water.
To my mind this was a phenomenon, as they had been entombed in that hard soil for probably twenty years or more.
Was this an example of suspended animation?
Other animal posts:
Animals Have Feelings Too And Share Pain
The Woman Who Communicates With Animals
Evil Of The Devil And His Dando Dogs On Bodmin Moor
whaaaaat???? must be, or do these guys live underground? but surely not otherwise they wouldn't have been stiff and cold?? okay, i don't know.
ReplyDeleteAmazing but no idea if this is suspended animation, certainly sounds a possibility. You dig up some bizarre stories at times!
ReplyDeleteWow. Is this even possible? I don't know much about newts. Now I'm going to do some research. What a strange story, Mike.
ReplyDeleteProbably saw what happened to the first newt, and thought, "we'd better start moving around." I'm sure no one wanted to be neutered.
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