FOREST FLOOR

[Irishwhistler]

Forest Floor ~ Something has been nibbling.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[smoke665]

Mike you found yourself waking up in the tree tops lately???? Fungus make some interesting subjects.

 

[Irishwhistler]

Mike you found yourself waking up in the tree tops lately???? Fungus make some interesting subjects.

Smoke,
I spend a good deal of time in the outdoor world, the most happy place in the world for me.

Mike

 

[Photo Lady]

View attachment 179441
Forest Floor ~ Something has been nibbling.

Cheers,
Mike

hope these are okay to eat!! great photo

 

[smoke665]

I spend a good deal of time in the outdoor world, the most happy place in the world for me.

As do I except for the last couple months, just can't stand the heat and humidity. Our house is in the middle of a 35 acre plot of woods, with woods surrounding me on 3 sides. My neighbors and I are all on good terms, and we take good care of our fire lanes, so once it cools down again Sadie and I will be free to explore several miles of trails once again.

 

[Irishwhistler]

View attachment 179441
Forest Floor ~ Something has been nibbling.

Cheers,
Mike

hope these are okay to eat!! great photo

Dr. John Rippon, an IMA member and world expert on fungal diseases, squirrels have an interesting adaptation that allows them to eat mushrooms containing deadly amanita-toxins without being affected. There are three important chemicals in the amanitas. Two will knock you right off, but are destroyed in cooking. The third one is the interesting one: it consists of the second amanitin, bound tightly to a glycoprotein molecule. When we digest the mushroom, the enzymes in our gut break the bond between the toxin and the glycoprotein, leaving the toxin free to enter our bloodstream, while the glycoprotein is excreted (a glycoprotein is a mucus molecule, in case you don't know). What the squirrels have done is line their gut with a toxin-compatible glycoprotein, so that as soon as it gets split from its original glycoprotein molecule, it gets rebound to the squirrel glycoprotein, and excreted along with it. Obviously, the squirrels don't cook their food to destroy the first two molecules, but presumably those get bound in exactly the same way. Thus, squirrels and a few other animals (guinea pigs also, I believe) can eat mushrooms that are highly toxic to other animals with no ill effects.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[Photo Lady]

View attachment 179441
Forest Floor ~ Something has been nibbling.

Cheers,
Mike

hope these are okay to eat!! great photo

Dr. John Rippon, an IMA member and world expert on fungal diseases, squirrels have an interesting adaptation that allows them to eat mushrooms containing deadly amanita-toxins without being affected. There are three important chemicals in the amanitas. Two will knock you right off, but are destroyed in cooking. The third one is the interesting one: it consists of the second amanitin, bound tightly to a glycoprotein molecule. When we digest the mushroom, the enzymes in our gut break the bond between the toxin and the glycoprotein, leaving the toxin free to enter our bloodstream, while the glycoprotein is excreted (a glycoprotein is a mucus molecule, in case you don't know). What the squirrels have done is line their gut with a toxin-compatible glycoprotein, so that as soon as it gets split from its original glycoprotein molecule, it gets rebound to the squirrel glycoprotein, and excreted along with it. Obviously, the squirrels don't cook their food to destroy the first two molecules, but presumably those get bound in exactly the same way. Thus, squirrels and a few other animals (guinea pigs also, I believe) can eat mushrooms that are highly toxic to other animals with no ill effects.

Cheers,
Mike

thank you for all the information..very interesting... there are so many types of mushrooms..

 

[K9Kirk]

Real nice pic. As of now I'm spending all my time in my secret underground laboratory splicing squirrel genes with my own. I'll get back to you on that.