Post Four: the Flumpers

The Flumpers

Appearance: Tire-like

Food Source: Normal snake food

Geographical Location:  Midwestern United States

Habitat: The hilly, broad countryside

Intelligence: Quite smart

Status: Speculatory  

     On the plane back from our last trip, we decided to investigate the infamous Flumpers, commonly called "hoop snakes". Sightings of these "snakes" have been reported since colonial times but today
they are considered merely urban legends (Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1

   The story goes that these Flumpers have the ability to roll themselves up like a tire or hoop and roll down hills. I'm not going to lie, this sounds pretty far fetched, but lets stop and think about this for a minute.
     There are many types of snakes that are able to hold up their own weight. One type in particular is the cobra. It's said that, "When confronted, they can raise up to one-third of their bodies straight off the ground and still move forward to attack." (Figure 4.2)

Figure 4.2

     Many non-believers argue that there are no animals which possess rotating locomotion. David J. Tenembaum, accredited author of "The Why Files", writes that the Nannosquilla Decernspinosa, a species of mantis shrimp, has such an ability. He states that "A shrimplike native to Panama’s Pacific beaches transports itself by rolling. When the animal washes ashore, it arcs its body into a ring and rolls back into the water, pushed by the head and tail at the stately pace of 3.5 centimeters per second. Nannosquilla decernspinosa may have learned to spin in its cramped burrows, but it’s the only known rolly-roller in the animal kingdom." If a shrimp is able to harness a previously unheard of quality in the animal kingdom, this adds probability to the existence of the Flumpers.

Eye Witness Accounts

     It could be said that snakes who are able to hold themselves up like a cobra are better suited for their environment. Through the process of evolution, these snakes could have developed the ability to hold themselves up like a hoop.  Surely this trait would be advantageous; the ability for a snake to chase it's prey quickly and escape from its predators would give the Flumpers a greater chance of survival, and therefore more offspring to carry on these successful genes. 
     Though there is not physical evidence from the existence of the Flumpers, given the vast records of first hand accounts (Figure 4.3), we are forced to call their existence speculatory. For all we, and the world knows, the Flumpers could be rolling around out there somewhere.

Post Three: The Blue-Snouted Twumps

 BLUE SNOUTED TWUMP

Appearance: Walking haystacks
Food Source: Weeds
Geographical Location: Midwest of the United States
Habitat: Grassy plains, fields, prairies
Intelligence: Average
Status: Real

     One of our inside sources brought news of a shocking sight in the Midwest of the United States. When we first heard about the Blue-snouted Twumps, we had assumed that it was one of the animals that Peet had fabricated to throw the government off his trail. Yet with first hand accounts given by one of our most trusted followers, as well as the detailed drawing (seen above) he managed to sit down and create upon finding that the battery in his camera was dead, we had no choice but to accept its existence. Now the question remains of how such a creature is biologically possible.

Green Sea Slug

     At first we believed that the mother twump was ingesting the grass seeds, extracting the chloroplast and then actually growing the plants from her skin. Previously, this shocking biological process had been seen only in green sea slugs, whose branching digestive system allows them to keep and grow the chloroplast from the algae they eat.
    However, given the entirely different digestive system of a twump (which resembles a cow), we felt that there had to be another explanation for the seemingly plant-like animal.

Three Toed Sloth

  Then it hit us. The most obvious and logical explanation. The twumps weren't growing the grass, the grass was growing on the twumps. That's right. The twump's notorious hygiene causes an form of algae to grow on their fur, giving them the appearance of being covered in grass. This form of camouflage is also found among sloths, who find that a green coloring allows them to blend in more to their leafy surroundings. While the twumps also use their green fur to remain inconspicuous in the vast expanse of grassland, their fur serves another purpose as well.

      As one can observe in the figure of the twump at the top of the page, its babies are resting comfortably on its back. The young twumps nibble at the algae on their mother's fur and in this way gain nutrients such as calcium, sodium, potassium that are important to a young twump's growth. As well as the nutritional aspect, the twumps ride on their mother's back as a form of protection seen in a number of other species, such as loons, primates and sloths, whose young are especially susceptible to predators. Baby twumps are most vulnerable to badgers, minks, prairie falcons, hawks and owls.
    Adult twumps are found to have few predators due to three main factors:
          1. Their resemblance to clumps of grass as a form of camouflage.
          2. Their rare or extremely slow locomotion (predators adept at spotting quick movements.)
          3. Their covering of grass masks their scent from predators
However some unlucky twumps are occasionally bumped into by bobcats or coyotes and made a meal out of.

Twump Food Web 
(click image to enlarge)

Post Two: the Flubduds

 THE FLUBDUDS
Appearance: sheep-like in body shape
Food Source: prairie grass
Geographical Location: Steppes of Eurasia
Habitat: Prairy
Intelligence: Dim-witted
Status: Speculatory

     Our next adventure takes us to the Prairie grass lands of North America. The creature we are searching for is the so called "Flubduds". These seemingly goat-like animals are said to have very short, skinny legs in the front and rather thick, trunk-like legs in the back. They eat all the grass they are able to eat around them. The biggest problem we've found regarding the Flubdub's existence is the fact that they apparently unable to move from their spot.
     This raises three main questions we are finding difficult to answer:
          1. How were they able to be born this way if their parents and their parents' parents were unable          to reach the other species to mate?
          2. How and why did their legs evolved to be so small, surely this must be a disadvantage?
          3. If they could somehow function as an animal in the wild, how they could live until all of the grass grew back without starving to death?

Here is what we determined:

   In order to have these mammals reproduce without a partner of the opposite sex, the Flubduds must go through the process of parthenogenesis. The possibility for this process to happen in an animal such as the flubduds is slim. However, its possible they could have evolved in this way. Through the use of parthenogenesis, reproductions occurs with an unfertilized (most commonly female) gamete. These organisms most commonly only give birth to female offspring and eventually all of the males would die off. The flubduds would need to be an entirely female species to fit this description.

Figure 3.1

    On to the next issue, why would evolution be so cruel as to give them tiny front legs? One reason why this could be happening is that the front legs of the Flubduds are in the process of becoming a vestigial trait. We as humans have some of our own vestigial traits such as the tail bone or your wisdom teeth. Another organism with a famous vestigial trait is the whale. Whales still contain the bones that were once used as legs (see Figure 3.1). While we don't think that these Flubduds are going to join the fish any time soon, their front legs may serve a new purpose some day. 

Figure 3.2

     When researching the Flubduds, we couldn't help but be reminded of the Tyrannosaurus Rex (Figure 3.2). To this day, T Rex are still famous for their tiny little arms. Before the untimely death of every dinosaur known to man, the T-Rex was one of the most successful hunters known to dinosaur-kind. One paleontologist, Gregory M. Erickson author of If T. rex fell, how did it get up, given its tiny arms and low center of gravity?, wrote that the T Rex could have gone for months without using its arms. If the Flubduds are able to live long enough to carry on their species, we believe that it could be possible for them to head in this direction. While they are not hunters like the T-Rex, it appears that their evolution may be headed in a similar direction. We've determined that the Flubdubs would successfully be able to walk if:
    a. Their front legs were longer, allowing them to feed like a typical grazer.
    b. Their front legs grew shorter, allowing them to walk on their hind legs similar to a human or t-Rex
From what we know of the flubdubs, they've moved on from being typical grazers and are working to becoming bi-pedals.
     Finally, in order for these Flubduds to continue as a species, they need to be able to live long enough to reproduce, which give them the opportunity for evolution to take place. To determine wether or not these animals would be able to survive long enough for the grass to grow back, they would need to be able to go without food for a little less than four weeks, which is how long it takes for big bluestem grass(the most common grass growing on the prairie) to germinate. Due to the fact that they are such slow-moving (or no moving) animals, they use very little energy, and therefore do not need to eat much food to sustain themselves. Hibernating animals such as bears can go up to one-hundred days without eating.
     While we are unable to prove that the Flubduds exist, we have determined that it could be possible for an animal to live under these conditions.

Post One: The Glubzunks

 THE GLUBZUNKS
Appearance: old sunken logs
Food Source: plump juicy frogs
Geographical Location: North America
Habitat: fresh water
Intelligence: low
Status: Real

Figure 1A

       We've spent the past five weeks troving the lakes of North America for the mysterious Glubzunks. According to Peet, the Glubzunks "resemble old sunken logs," and feed mainly on "plump juicy frogs." We chose to investigate these strange animals first because we thought there was a strong likely hood of their existence since their camouflage technique is so often seen in nature.
       For example, the reef stonefish (Figure 1A) lures in small unsuspecting fish by posing as an innocent rock. Similarly, the oyster toad fish (Figure 1B), indigenous to the waters of the Western Atlantic, uses it's darkly pigmented camouflage to ambush its prey.

Figure 1B

     The stick insect, part of the family of insects known as the Plasmids, display a similar camouflage technique by looking just as tree-like. (Figure 1C)

Figure 1C

Due to the Glubzunks' extreme slow movements, their log-like appearance has become imperative for their survival. The more log-like they appear, the more likely that they will stay hidden from predators and be unseen by unsuspecting prey. The Glubzunks that look the most log-like are able to live longer and with greater ease. Those that are equipped with the best camouflage are the most likely to pass on their success-bringing genes.

Another fish that behaves in a similar manner is the Lophius Americanus.

As you can see the idea of a fish that is able to camouflage itself to mimic the appearance of its habitat is entirely possible in nature. This leads us to believe that the Glubzunks is probably swimming around out there somewhere.

Introduction to the Cause

Greetings,

Bill Peet, 1983

Congratulations on finding your way to this blog, and the truth. We are followers of Bill Peet, a well-known children's author. Yet what people don't know is that Peet is actually a rogue government researcher who discovered seemingly impossible species. The government didn't want these findings released due to over hunting of mythical organisms in the past (e.g. "The Big Foot Fiasco" of '75). So Peet passed off his research as fiction in order to get the word out. In his 1983 illustrated book, "No Such Things", Peet compiled what we believe is the only remaining collection of all of his research along with some creatures from his own imagination in order to keep the government unsuspecting of his mission. He knew his followers would discover the truth and educate the world on these fantastic creatures. We, and other members of our organization, believe that the public deserves to know the truth. Since his  passing, many of his journals and records have been destroyed. This has made it difficult to find enough evidence to validate the existence of some of the creatures and determine which were simply imagined. We will be documenting our quest through this blog. We will succeed.